RocShemp

I never saw The Illusionist but those that had seen it told me it was more of a love story. I dunno how accurate that is, though.

Noonan

It was more of a love story than Prestige for sure. Good movie but Prestige was on another level.

DeanoBKN

I remember lending my DVD (and then Blu-Ray) to many friends who had never even heard of the movie before. They were all blown away by it. It truly is a great movie.

boredsilly

I know a lot of people really enjoyed The Illusionist, but even when it comes to visual flair, I felt like Prestige was better. The Illusionist felt really cheap to me because it relied so much on cgi and that was just boring to me. I loved that The Prestige had tricks that were based on practical tricks. I've seen both movies for the first time within the last month, and I was completely transfixed by Prestige, and pretty bored by The Illusionist (though Giamatti was great in the flick).

Solid Snake

I was talking about the cgi etc as the flair. The Prestige had it all practical and didn't use it as a gimmick though it was very much a large subject for the story...it didn't push itself out like The Illusionist..granted..that film had another story to tell...

WeylandYutani

The moment sci-fi entered this story this movie sank.

Clones. Seriously? Clones?

The first 2/3rds of this film are great. The parts without any tired, ridiculous mentions of science-fiction clones.

yeah.

Dash

This is one of my 3 favorite movies of all time. Just seeing this thread makes me want to re watch it. Ill post back when its fresh again.

whoopdido

Interesting that somebody with the name "WeylandYutani" is complaining about sci-fi aspects within a movie.

WeylandYutani

I don't see why, in this case. I think even this film's most ardent fans would attest that THE PRESTIGE's first half is far more interesting than it's latter.

RocShemp

No. It was fascinating from start to finish.

And it makes sense. Angier was a great showman. He was all about spectacle. So his trick was so complex it was real.

Borden was a great magician. He created a simple illusion that baffled people and made them wonder how he was achieving such a "complex illusion".

The means employed by each man to achieve the Transported Man fit their personas to a T.

fumanstan

I mentioned some people not liking the end earlier, and its easy to see why. The first 2/3rds of the movie play realistically like it could have really happened, and all of a sudden switches to the ability to make clones. I can see how that could take someone out of the movie.

JTH182

I can understand that, but I liked the direction the movie took because all of a sudden it was like "oh shit, magic is REAL"

Solid Snake

THIS. Everything plays out so practical that even the viewer wonders how it's done..than much like the characters as well...the shit does exist..but..not in the way it was believed to be. It's easily my favorite Nolan just cuz of the fucked up morality of the obsession and their own ethics involved. Love it.

brayzie

No, the clone aspect didn't ruin it at all, and I don't consider the first half to be better than the second since it was great from start to finish. In fact the SF aspect has gotten me more interested in Tesla and reading about scientific breakthroughs during that time.

The whole time we don't know what Borden's method is and when his wife says, "I know what you are!" that just ramps up the intrigue.

I like how Nolan is the magician for this film experience making us think one thing, like when Alfred says "abracadabra" before he hangs then appears before Angier to shoot him. But we later find out that's not what happened at all. It's really a beautiful film and is enjoyable on different levels.

Dr. DVD

Just watched this last night for Halloween. This is one of the few movies that gets better with each viewing, and amazes me with how much is visible that one wouldn't know to notice. The movie's opening line of "are you watching closely" is very applicable. Some things that stand out moreso with later viewings, which might have been mentioned before:



I also think it's interesting how there are three acts to a magic trick and how it is applied to the three act structure of the movie itself.

One question I still have:

Timber

Exactly right on your second spoiler. In the end they both get exactly what they want. One pulls off the ultimate "magic trick" and the other gets to live life with his daughter.

There was a link posted somewhere in this thread that had a rundown on who was who in what scenes and while I don't think it's perfect it makes a lot of sense in most cases.

Jay G.

This was linked to before.=:
Note that the article is just best guesses, with reasoning provided. I don't think anyone knows for certain which is which in each scene except for the Nolans and Bale.

Dr. DVD

What's more fitting is that the daughter has now become heir to Lord Cadlow's fortune, which lends itself to the theory of just when Borden decided to make this the ultimate trick.

whoopdido

If I remember correctly, and this is VERY basic...



Oops. Nevermind. I just reread your question and you were asking a more detailed question. Seems like you already knew what I said in my answer. Yeah, the table posted above does a pretty good job of explaining the differences in the other scenes.

Dr. DVD

Good link. Essentially, hothead Borden is Frederick, and calm/likeable Borden is Albert.

whoopdido

Pretty much. After you see it a few times, I feel it's pretty easy to tell the two apart.

WeylandYutani

Good movie, done in by an overly obvious and stupid ending.

7/10

__

Solid Snake

Obvious how exactly?

Jay G.

I'd be interested to know how too. Having read the book, I already knew the methods for the trick going in (although the movie changes one method in a slight but important way), so I can't honestly say whether the movie presented them in an obvious way or not.

SuckaMC

Can you detail the books explanation in a spoiler? You have me curious what the difference is. Thanks.