the prestige

[jon_jinn]

anyone interested in seeing the prestige. i've only seen like two commercials for it but it looks pretty cool. the director's christopher nolan (director of Batman Begins) and the same two people who played Batman and Alfred in Batman Begins are in this movie.

[Radical Dreamer]

I think it looks amazing. And I'm off to see it in about 10 minutes. XD I can't wait!

[mitsuki lover]

I wonder who they got to consult on the magic acts.

[Radical Dreamer]

Oh my gosh.

That movie was fantastic. Seriously, it was SO well done.

It was pretty much impossible to take your eyes off the screen. There are clues scattered throughout the entire film...from the very opening scene of the movie, to the very last scene. Practically EVERYTHING hints toward the final secret, and it's amazing. Literally amazing. XD I was floored by the intricate way things were woven throughout the film...Agh, it was just incredible!

[SPOILER=Don't Look Unless You've Seen It--You Will RUIN It For Yourself If You Do!]For the longest time, I didn't know who to "root" for. Then I realized, when Angier said he didn't care about his dead wife anymore, he was definitely far too obsessed with figuring out Alfred's trick. And the way he (Angier) killed all of his clones after each performance was the exact same way his wife died! And the very fact that Angier was the one killing his clones was mind-blowing too, since you're meant to think that it was Alfred up until the very moment that you see him trying to get Angier out near the end of the film. And the whole thing about Angier not knowing whether or not he would be the "man in the box (and in his case, the man to die)", or the prestige. Pure genious. XD

I mean, once you find out that Alfred has a twin brother, everything totally comes together. The reason why he seems to have a split personality, the reason why he only loves Sarah on "some days," why Alfred doesn't know which knot he tied on the night that Julia died, and a billion other things. SUCH a fantastic movie!! [/SPOILER]

And not only that, but it has an amazing cast. Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Michael Caine, Andy Serkis, Scarlett Johannsen, and Christopher Nolan (as director). This movie passed my expectations, just like Batman Begins did. I totally applaud Christopher Nolan on his awesome direction skills, because that's two films now that he made that I loved. XD Now, all of you, go see this movie!!

[GrubbTheFragger]

All i have to say is AMAZING MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was a complet mind trip

[Scarecrow]

I've been looking forward to this for a couple of months now. Is it better than the Illusionist? I thought the Illusionist was surprisingly pretty great.

[Cognitive Gear]

I saw the movie yesterday. It was quite good. I walked in not knowing anything of the film; other than that my freind was an extra in it.

[spoiler=don't read unless you want to ruin it for yourself!]
I really liked the twist in the film. They have just the right amount of clues so that you can figure out most of it yourself. I figured out what the trick was when they put the cat into the machine. As soon as they put it in, I was like !!! THE OPENING!!!! CLONES! HE KILLS HIS OWN CLONE TO FRAME HIM?!?!? WHAT A JERK!

I didn't figure out that Alfred had a twin brother, though. I thought he cloned himself after the gun incident.I completely missed the fingers bleeding again thing. [/spoiler]

Good film. Highly recomended.

[mitsuki lover]

So who did the magic consultation..i.e. what magician did they get to teach the actors the various tricks of the trade?

[Radical Dreamer]

So who did the magic consultation..i.e. what magician did they get to teach the actors the various tricks of the trade?

I'm not sure. I can say, though, that once you see it, the technicalities sort of fade away, as you're so drawn into the film that who did what hardly seems to matter as much as the storyline.

[jon_jinn]

i want to see it even more now. i don't know when i ever will but i want to see it.

[Mave]

I echo everything Radical Dreamer and others have to say about the movie (those who have watched it).

It's been a very long time since a movie IMPRESSED me with its unique creative twist, solid storytelling and engaging presentation. I had my eyes rooted, my heart beating fast and my mind running with all sorts of thoughts throughout the whole show. The ending was very unpredictable and being absolutely clueless of what's going to happen next throughout the whole show was a rare experience. An added plus was having most of everything brilliantly explained at the end left me with an extreme sense of contentment. Genius.

[spoiler] I personally thought the frame was an accidental thing. How would Angier know when Alfred was going to barge into his backprop? Alfred just happened to be there and Angier saw the opportunity for exacting revenge. That's how I see it. Nonetheless, discovering how Angier had been killing his clones all along left quite a chill down my spine. [/spoiler]
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Do not spoil yourself, go watch it for yourself. Worthed way more than the 8 bucks I paid. If all movies were like The Prestige, I would be a hardcore moviegoer.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

I really want to see this, Flags of our Fathers, and The Departed. FINALLY! Some stuff that isn't cheesy or bad this year. (Well I guess the Departed kind of is, it's a remake after all)

I mean, the only impressive movies I've seen this year so far were all Korean.

So who did the magic consultation..i.e. what magician did they get to teach the actors the various tricks of the trade?

I would assume they didn't use actual tricks in the movie, seeing as it was a movie. With different camera angles and shots used (or special props) to make things look like tricks. (Or as Gob Buth would say "Illusions")

[Radical Dreamer]

I really want to see this, Flags of our Fathers, and The Departed. FINALLY! Some stuff that isn't cheesy or bad this year. (Well I guess the Departed kind of is, it's a remake after all)

I mean, the only impressive movies I've seen this year so far were all Korean.

ROFL, Knowing your taste in entertainment, you would eat this movie up. Go see it. Now. XD

An added plus was having most of everything brilliantly explained at the end left me with an extreme sense of contentment. Genius.

Oh, I know! Throughout the whole thing, I kept worrying that it wouldn't be explained well enough, and I'd end up still wondering exactly what was going on after the movie was over. I was very pleased with the way it ended; I was amazed how the writers fit all of that into the last 5-10 minutes and still made it seem very plausable.

[Akane]

I actually got to see it yesterday!! I loved it ^^ It's very complex though...my head's still spinning. I still gotta figure it out XD It's defineitely a movie you'd have to see again to catch everything, in my opinion. But I like those kinda movies. Christian Bale and Micheal Caine made the movie for me ^.^

[Yumie]

QUESTION! For those who have seen the movie, that is.

[spoiler] My question is, Did Alfred actually have a twin brother, or was it too a clone? See, I originally assumed they were natural born twins too, as did almost everyone else I've talked to about it. However, there's one huge thing I forgot when I made that assumption. And that is, when Ainge went to Alfred and asked him how he did his trick, and told him to write down everything he'd need to know to do it, do you remember what he wrote? "TESLA." The name of the scientist who created the cloning device for Ainge. Now, unless he had actually been cloned, why would he write that? How would he even know about Tesla and what he was working on? Wouldn't he have just written something like "twins" instead?

Now, the main reason why I thought they were twins was because of the fraternal way they acted towards eachother-- the arguments they got into and the way that the one cried as the other was being hauled off to his execution. If I had a clone, I think I'd be more commanding to it, and not sisterly. So, they at least acted like brothers, but were they really?[/spoiler]

[Radical Dreamer]

QUESTION! For those who have seen the movie, that is.

[spoiler] My question is, Did Alfred actually have a twin brother, or was it too a clone? See, I originally assumed they were natural born twins too, as did almost everyone else I've talked to about it. However, there's one huge thing I forgot when I made that assumption. And that is, when Ainge went to Alfred and asked him how he did his trick, and told him to write down everything he'd need to know to do it, do you remember what he wrote? "TESLA." The name of the scientist who created the cloning device for Ainge. Now, unless he had actually been cloned, why would he write that? How would he even know about Tesla and what he was working on? Wouldn't he have just written something like "twins" instead?

Now, the main reason why I thought they were twins was because of the fraternal way they acted towards eachother-- the arguments they got into and the way that the one cried as the other was being hauled off to his execution. If I had a clone, I think I'd be more commanding to it, and not sisterly. So, they at least acted like brothers, but were they really?[/spoiler]

WHOA. o_o I had definitely not thought of that....o_o

[SPOILER]I guess the only thing that makes me think it was actually his brother was the little boy at the beginning. After Alfred does the canary trick, the little boy asks, "But where is its brother?" Since that's most definitely hinting at Alfred having a brother, then I guess that would make sense, right?

But then again, you have to think...He kept his brother a secret the entire time he knew Angier and the others. Granted, his parents weren't around, and there's no evidence to say that he had lived in the city where the film took place all his life, but it still seems like it would be difficult to have a twin one day, and then suddenly have Fallon the next day. Still, when Angier buried Fallon alive, Alfred dug him up very quickly, as he was worried about him. But due to the obsessive nature of both of these men, was that because he wanted to save his brother, or because he wanted to save his act? O_o

Then again, Michael Caine's character knew about his "twin" as well, so...did he simply know about it because he knew about the machine? But he didn't know that Angier had cloned himself, and he seemed very surprised when he did. And I guess we also have to ask how long the machine had been invented...Did Alfred have time to find it? ACK, it's all so mind-bending! XD[/SPOILER]

Just when you think you have it all figured out...XD

[Kokhiri Sojourn]

I agree that the movie was incredibly well done, the twists (there were multiple layers of twists...) were mind-bending, the characters well performed, everything was brilliantly put together.

[spoiler="the prestige"]The movie was also tremendously dark. Everything seemed to point back to death, life as an illusion, obsession destroying everyone around you.

Death = the canaries were killed to fake the illusion of magic; the suicide of the wife, the drowning of Angier's wife. The ending shot of the movie, under the stage, a field of death, with numbers of the clones drowned and the last one (a clone itself) shot).

Life as an illusion = the entire movie were the magicians pursuit of real magic. "There is something more to his trick," he said, when others had repeatedly told him it was a double. It ended to the contrary = there was no magic. The ending statement from Angier as he died was that life was a like magic, it isn't real, but if you could only trick someone into believing just for a second that it was real, there might be meaning. But there truly was no meaning, only death at the end.

Obsession destroying everyone around you = Both wives died, one at the hands of pursuing something more difficult in a show, the other slowly, as her absent husband having an affair on her led her to the drink, then suicide. It destroyed their own lives, both of the magicians. Everything led to darkness.

Another huge question I was left with: Apparently clones of yourself are yourself. When Angier cloned himself, the clone knew exactly what Angier was going to do, everything about him, enough so that he could step right into his life and there would be no difference. I wasn't quite sure exactly what to do with that.

So in the end, was the movie satirical, showing utter darkness to lead to the light? Or was the movie giving a worldview that all of life is the pursuit of something real, and in the end, there is nothing but an illusion, and death at its' end? I can't help but think that with all the darkness, and the ending conclusion, it was the latter.

Brilliantly done, I must admit. But its' message, I'm not sure about.[/spoiler]

[Radical Dreamer]

WHOA. o_o I had definitely not thought of that....o_o

[SPOILER]I guess the only thing that makes me think it was actually his brother was the little boy at the beginning. After Alfred does the canary trick, the little boy asks, "But where is its brother?" Since that's most definitely hinting at Alfred having a brother, then I guess that would make sense, right?

But then again, you have to think...He kept his brother a secret the entire time he knew Angier and the others. Granted, his parents weren't around, and there's no evidence to say that he had lived in the city where the film took place all his life, but it still seems like it would be difficult to have a twin one day, and then suddenly have Fallon the next day. Still, when Angier buried Fallon alive, Alfred dug him up very quickly, as he was worried about him. But due to the obsessive nature of both of these men, was that because he wanted to save his brother, or because he wanted to save his act? O_o

Then again, Michael Caine's character knew about his "twin" as well, so...did he simply know about it because he knew about the machine? But he didn't know that Angier had cloned himself, and he seemed very surprised when he did. And I guess we also have to ask how long the machine had been invented...Did Alfred have time to find it? ACK, it's all so mind-bending! XD[/SPOILER]

Just when you think you have it all figured out...XD

[SPOILER=Continuation, after giving it even more thought....XD]Then AGAIN....Alfred and his brother/clone/whatever had very different personalities. Remember, there was the whole thing with how Alfred loved Sarah one day, but not other days (since it was his twin/clone on some days) and "Freddie" loved Scarlett Johannsen's character (whose name escapes me for the moment). Also, Alfred was a very fatherly figure. Like Kokhiri said, the clones of Angier seemed to actually be Angier. Although, I suppose that, since Alfred wanted to see his daughter while he was in prison (the imprisoned one wasn't the father of the little girl), he might have been somewhat fatherly, too. But, on the other hand, it could have been an act, to try and keep his low profile (or it could have been his niece, if he was indeed Alfred's brother).

So basically, in all that rambling, I haven't really proved much, and I still can't figure out how the "Tesla" on the note could mean anything besides "clone". XD If anyone wants to add on though, feel free. XD[/SPOILER]

[Cognitive Gear]

[spoiler=about continuation] Well, I need to see the movie again to really know for sure; but I think that it is indeed a copy of him. The reason that I think so is that otherwise he would have had no reason to write "tesla" as his secret. If it's his twin brother's real name, that's too much of a coincidence to me to believe.

Also, we are given no indication (that I can think of) as to when he may have created his clone. For all we know; he could have created it long enough ago that they had grown to be truly seperate people. [/spoiler]

[Yumie]

[SPOILER=Continuation, after giving it even more thought....XD]Then AGAIN....Alfred and his brother/clone/whatever had very different personalities. Remember, there was the whole thing with how Alfred loved Sarah one day, but not other days (since it was his twin/clone on some days) and "Freddie" loved Scarlett Johannsen's character (whose name escapes me for the moment). Also, Alfred was a very fatherly figure. Like Kokhiri said, the clones of Angier seemed to actually be Angier. Although, I suppose that, since Alfred wanted to see his daughter while he was in prison (the imprisoned one wasn't the father of the little girl), he might have been somewhat fatherly, too. But, on the other hand, it could have been an act, to try and keep his low profile (or it could have been his niece, if he was indeed Alfred's brother).

So basically, in all that rambling, I haven't really proved much, and I still can't figure out how the "Tesla" on the note could mean anything besides "clone". XD If anyone wants to add on though, feel free. XD[/SPOILER]

[spoiler]Yeah, I thought of the "Where's his brother?" thing, which made me think, "surely they're brothers then," and the fact that Alfred and his brother/clone had different personalities is another big thing (not only did he love/not love Sarah, but I think the twin that died was way more obsessed with beating Ainge, which is why he went to see his act that one last time even though his brother/clone advised him not to) that made me think they must be brothers. All of Ainge's clones were exactly like him, right down to the point that he wasn't actually sure anymore if he was the one in the box or in the prestige. So I'm just confused! I definitely want to see it again and try to figure it all out.[/spoiler]

[fairyprincess90]

Oooo! i really want to see this movie! i'm glad to hear its cool!
^_^

[Mave]

Just when you think you have it all figured out...XD

Perhaps some parts are deliberately excluded out to ensure the audience comes back to watch it again only to find oneself is left to personal speculation/opinion.

[spoiler] I thought they were twin brothers but Borden having a clone who continued to live longer and started to differentiate themselves solely based on different life experiences after cloning seems like a plausible explanation. on one condition: The cloned Borden must not know that he was cloned while the original does.

There were times Borden seemed so clueless. "I don't know" and the parts where he seems less confident. Remember the last scene where Borden was yelling at Fallon (whom we already know is another Borden), "you're the engineer!! Why can't you figure out what Angier is doing?!" It was also this same clueless Borden who ran downstairs to figure out what Angier was doing and ended up being framed. I suspect this Borden loved the...ehwhatshername..Scarlett Johnson's character.

And then we have the other Borden who seemed to know everything. It's this Borden who tied the knot of Angier's wife, told Angier about Tesla and smiled when the little boy pointed out the "Where's his brother." Subsequently, this Borden was the one who lived in the end and took revenge on his clone/brother's behalf. I suspect this Borden loved Sarah, thus his fights with her ("What else do you want from me? - Your secrets).

If I recalled properly, both the original and cloned Borden switched places many times. It would be a challenge to figure out who was at which particular scene (but quite a fun one, I must say XD).

That would bring me to one question and a conclusion. Question: Does that mean the child was the original Borden's daughter with Sarah? Conclusion: Borden valued life better, learnt to love his clone as his brother and was not willing to get his hands dirty in order to succeed while Angier lost in his obsession, descended into darkness, desperate for success, only used his clones for his purposes and discarded them when they were longer of no use.

I love how this movie makes me change my mind about a character in the afterthoughts. I liked Angier at first and thought he was a victim of Borden's manipulation but in the end, I think Angier destroyed himself and Borden was the better of the two.
[/spoiler]

I'm not sure if this makes sense but these are my speculations for now. Hehehe....

[jon_jinn]

wow. all the spoiler boxes and stuff make the movie seem like a really interesting and clever film. good gosh i really REALLY want to see this movie now.

[Maledicte]

I've never seen a thread before with so many spoiler boxes. And big ones, too! I must see this.

Plus it has an awesome cast and director.

[GrubbTheFragger]

wow. all the spoiler boxes and stuff make the movie seem like a really interesting and clever film. good gosh i really REALLY want to see this movie now.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. The movie was amazing. Its clean too. No language,sexual content is like non-existent, Violence is the worst of the 3 it is slightly disturbing in two parts. [Spoiler= Minor spoilers but still spoilers] When Alfred gets his figures blown off and when alfred riggs the other magic act by killing the pigeon and breaking the womens figures [/Spoiler]

Ok must add my own spoilers boxes [Spoiler= MAJOR SPOILERS] The movie was just amazing it had twists all over the place like the twin thing. I mean that explains the "I love you" "Sometimes you mean it sometimes you don't". Then the clone thing was also amazing even though i figure that part out. Did anyone else call that Alfreds last words were gonna be 'Abbra kadabra"[/Spoiler]

[Radical Dreamer]

[SPOILER] There were times Borden seemed so clueless. "I don't know" and the parts where he seems less confident. ... And then we have the other Borden who seemed to know everything. It's this Borden who tied the knot of Angier's wife, told Angier about Tesla and smiled when the little boy pointed out the "Where's his brother." [/SPOILER]

[SPOILER]Actually, my theory on that was that Alfred (the father) did not tie the knot, but the other less-amiable brother/clone did. Since he tied the knot that she (Julia) may not have been able to slip instead of tying a knot that was easier for her, I was led to believe that the twin tied the knot, rather than the "real" Alfred. I assume this is true, since I assume that the "real" Alfred is the one who wrote the diary that Angier was reading when he shouted out, "How can he not know?!" I guess another piece of evidence for that would be trying to figure out which Alfred told Angier that the first time he was asked. Hmmmm....[/SPOILER]

Man, I need to go see it again...XD

[GrubbTheFragger]

[SPOILER]Actually, my theory on that was that Alfred (the father) did not tie the knot, but the other less-amiable brother/clone did. Since he tied the knot that she (Julia) may not have been able to slip instead of tying a knot that was easier for her, I was led to believe that the twin tied the knot, rather than the "real" Alfred. I assume this is true, since I assume that the "real" Alfred is the one who wrote the diary that Angier was reading when he shouted out, "How can he not know?!" I guess another piece of evidence for that would be trying to figure out which Alfred told Angier that the first time he was asked. Hmmmm....[/SPOILER]

Man, I need to go see it again...XD

Yes actually i also beleaved [Spoiler] that the evil twin tied the knot because through out the movie Alfred kept saying he didn't know what knot got tied.[/Spoiler]

[Ichigo_89]

Holy freakin crap, I can't believe this movie is getting this much ravings from everybody!! MUST...SEE IT...

[jon_jinn]

YES!!!!!! my mom says that she'll take me to see the movie this saturday (10/28). YES!! i finally get to see this movie. i'm getting really excited.

[soul alive]

I loved this movie so much. It just blows my mind. And I really liked the concept of no one is really the good guy - not something that you see in many western movies.

Now for my thoughts:
[spoiler] Alfred and his brother really are twins. He states at the end of his diary that the word that he gave Angier to decode the diary - Tesla - while being the key, was just intended to get rid of Angier by sending him on a wild goose chase, he didn't know that that chase would end up creating that machine. Alfred was pulling his magic trick through with his twin, while Angier was convinced that something else was going on and became obsessed about finding it. Tesla probably did build a machine for Alfred, you could see it in his performances once he gets more well known, but it looked more like something there just to be cool, no real function.

The twist was that the wild goose hunt that Angier was sent on ended up being fruitful for him. The machine that Tesla created wasn't created until after Angier sought him out, and gave him enough financial support to be able to create it. Tesla was hiding out from Edison's men and barely had enough money to do the research he wanted. They didn't realize the machine worked as it did until Angier caught on.

One clue that points to Alfred's twin is the little old Chinese magician - who lived his entire life pretending to be a cripple for his magic tricks to work. Alfred was also living a life of pretending, he tells Angier at the end that they lived two halves of a complete life, taking turns living the 'reality' all for the sake of their magic tricks. Perhaps why Alfred was able to catch on so quickly that the Chinese magician was living a lie, as he was doing the same himself.

The twists were so twisted. I caught on to the fact that Angier was making clones of himself and drowning them nightly once I saw the cat clone, but wasn't for sure until Alfred finished reading Angier's diary and confirmed it. And his using the blind stage hands so that they wouldn't see the dead bodies, and keeping all of the bodies in the basement of his stage. Gah! And Alfred and his twin - cutting off the other's fingers so that they matched. I squealed a bit at that part. I didn't catch on to the twin part until the end when they revealed it. [/spoiler]