Miscellaneous Movie Musings

[€uroMeinke]

From what i could make out through the sticking scene and backing up as much as we could from the end, it looked like there were flashbacks, of the one magician killing his doppleganger, leading me to believe that in the realm of the movie the Tesla thing actually worked, but I know there was some pan by the magician suspended (apparently dead) in the tank, so it might have been some decent into death delusion - or maybe he had a brother too?

[Not Afraid]

Wait a minute. We missed maybe a sentence or two due to glitchy DVD.

[Strangler Lewis]

It worked. Hence the hats on the hillside. There was a garbled speech about how Hugh Jackman never knew on any given night if he'd wind up as the prestige in the balcony or the man in the tank. That whole room was full of tanks with dead Jackmans. That's why he had blind stage hands.

[Alex]

Spoiler:

No, he knew. That is what was so creepy about it. Every night's performance was an act of suicide. And a painful one.

By the way, that whole element of the movie is not in the book. A lot of people complained about the significant changes to the book in translating it to the movie. I liked both and understand the reasoning. The book's version would have been too hard to do without a lot of exposition of voiceover.

If anybody wants to read the book I'd be happy to send it along.

[Strangler Lewis]

Originally Posted by Alex

Spoiler:

No, he knew. That is what was so creepy about it. Every night's performance was an act of suicide. And a painful one.

By the way, that whole element of the movie is not in the book. A lot of people complained about the significant changes to the book in translating it to the movie. I liked both and understand the reasoning. The book's version would have been too hard to do without a lot of exposition of voiceover.

If anybody wants to read the book I'd be happy to send it along.

Spoiler:

According to p. 147 of the searchable screenplay on Amazon, Angier didn't know whether he'd be committing suicide or murder.

[Alex]

What page? I don't remember anything being said about this in the movie.

Spoiler:

But he did know that the body walking into the box would die. Whether the consciousness died with it or transferred to the next body would be a different issue.

If there is ambiguity in the movie, there is none in the book.

[€uroMeinke]

Sigh - I feared that's how it ended, and so like it a little less. Where the illusionist annoyed me with CGI Magic to make you think the trick is real (and not just the trick), this annoys me in the introduction of a lame fantasy element to complete the story - it would have been much better as another elaborate trick. I mean, if you had that Tesla Machine magic tricks would be the last thing you'd do with it.

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

Originally Posted by €uroMeinke

Sigh - I feared that's how it ended, and so like it a little less. Where the illusionist annoyed me with CGI Magic to make you think the trick is real (and not just the trick), this annoys me in the introduction of a lame fantasy element to complete the story - it would have been much better as another elaborate trick. I mean, if you had that Tesla Machine magic tricks would be the last thing you'd do with it.

Hence why The Prestige was a better book. Vague spoiler:

Spoiler:

It was used for more than just magic, in the end.

[CoasterMatt]

I'd transfer my pictures from wireless device to wireless device, effortlessly.

[Ghoulish Delight]

You know those movies that have a cast of a few really excellent actors, but that just don't really make sense together and thus, despite the talent, make for a terrible movie?

I fully expected Mad Dog and Glory to be one of those. De Niro, Uma Thurman, Bill Murray. I love all 3, but Bill Murray just seemed out of place in that cast list.

Much to my surprise, it's a really well put together film. I quite enjoyed it.