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BiggerBoat 
"Pass me the harpoon"
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 Posted - 03/22/2007 : 18:30:48
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Originally posted by benj clews
I didn't feel shafted like I did with The Prestige though and I know why. The Prestige was based in the world of possible magic, even explaining the tricks in some cases or giving you enough clues to figure it out. I accepted this and felt immediately cheated when the big reveal came and it turned out to be alien technology from the planet Zog.
I've seen both films now and have to say that I preferred The Illusionist, purely for the reason that I felt greater empathy with the characters. The one interesting part about the Prestige for me was the use of David Bowie's 'Tesla' character who was undoubtedly based on Nikola Tesla, the Serbian (could you not tell form the accent??) electrical engineer, who made a 'magnifying transmittor' (the big sparky thing in the film) in 1899.
Tesla was a genius who contibuted towards some of the greatest discoveries of his time, including electromagnetism, engineering, the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar, computer science, the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics and theoretical physics.
Towards the end of his life his research focussed on what we might call the fantastical.He believed that he could create a death ray, a weapon of unimaginable power, that he called the 'peace ray' because he believed (rather naiivley) that the existence of such a weapon would end all wars. After studying quantum physics, he also believed that it would be possible to manipulate electromagnetic waves in a certain manner to create a 'wall of light' that would allow time-travel, teleportation and anti-gravity amongst other things.
Now I'm no electical engineer, but if Telsa, probably the world's greatest electrical engineer of all time, believes that teleportation is possible, then I'm not going to argue with him. And because of this, the ending to The Prestige isn't quite as outlandish as one might presuppose.
Of course there are those who believe that Telsa turned into a barking loon in his old age and that his theories were the ramblings of a mad man, but I prefer the romantic notion that he was only just touching on what was possible and that his theories will one day be proved to be true. |
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BaftaBaby 
"Always entranced by cinema."
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Posted - 03/22/2007 : 19:53:16
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quote:
Originally posted by BiggerBoat
quote:
Originally posted by benj clews
I didn't feel shafted like I did with The Prestige though and I know why. The Prestige was based in the world of possible magic, even explaining the tricks in some cases or giving you enough clues to figure it out. I accepted this and felt immediately cheated when the big reveal came and it turned out to be alien technology from the planet Zog.
I've seen both films now and have to say that I preferred The Illusionist, purely for the reason that I felt greater empathy with the characters. The one interesting part about the Prestige for me was the use of David Bowie's 'Tesla' character who was undoubtedly based on Nikola Tesla, the Serbian (could you not tell form the accent??) electrical engineer, who made a 'magnifying transmittor' (the big sparky thing in the film) in 1899.
Tesla was a genius who contibuted towards some of the greatest discoveries of his time, including electromagnetism, engineering, the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar, computer science, the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics and theoretical physics.
Towards the end of his life his research focussed on what we might call the fantastical.He believed that he could create a death ray, a weapon of unimaginable power, that he called the 'peace ray' because he believed (rather naiivley) that the existence of such a weapon would end all wars. After studying quantum physics, he also believed that it would be possible to manipulate electromagnetic waves in a certain manner to create a 'wall of light' that would allow time-travel, teleportation and anti-gravity amongst other things.
Now I'm no electical engineer, but if Telsa, probably the world's greatest electrical engineer of all time, believes that teleportation is possible, then I'm not going to argue with him. And because of this, the ending to The Prestige isn't quite as outlandish as one might presuppose.
Of course there are those who believe that Telsa turned into a barking loon in his old age and that his theories were the ramblings of a mad man, but I prefer the romantic notion that he was only just touching on what was possible and that his theories will one day be proved to be true.
Are you SURE you didn't read my review???  
The Prestige
I'm a sucker for magic acts, always have been ever since my late dad foxed us kids with his self-taught efforts pulling coins from behind our ears and making handkerchiefs vanish. Once upon a time I even got into researching the bullet catch for a tv script and got to meet some wonderful people inside The Magic Circle. So I was very interested in this film.
Since there's already a fascinating spoiler thread about this film discussing the nuances of its plot, I'll concentrate here on the film's execution. What's fundamentally wrong here is that you just don't care about the people, and intrigued as one might be about how did they do this or that, the characters have got to engage you on human terms. In The Prestige you can't blame the actors that they don't; they're all acting their little socks off and none is less than good. Bale in particular is excellent, giving subtle clues throughout to his deceptive role; and Caine's honesty helps us over the bumpy bits of the plot.
Nolan's direction is perfectly professional, and certainly more successful than his screenplay which promises way more than it delivers. I think this is because he became more concerned with the mechanics of the plot than in telling the story. I did like the production design which resists over-glamourizing the Victorian era.
But a big no-no for me was the handling of Nikola Tesla, played with dignity by David Bowie. Did you know that 2006 was declared by UNESCO and the governments of Serbia and Croatia as The Year of Tesla? He was indeed a formidable intellect, a brilliant scientist and inventor, as well as leading a truly poignant, emotionally empty life; actually Wikipedia sums it up nicely. Because Nolan is constantly chasing his plot of two rival magicians trying obsessively to best each other to the point of sacrificing their normal lives - Tesla's almost literal deus ex machina serves to diminish the story by Nolan's simplistic reduction of this product of a great man's mind. True, decades after achieving plaudits for early experiments into such territory as wireless communication and particle beam acceleration Tesla did delve into thoughts about extra-terrestrial communication and teleportation. But Nolan's fanciful interpretations squeeze these so radically out of shape to fit his scenario that his entire tale becomes laughable.
So, if you don't care about the characters or which one "wins", and you can't believe the supposed explanations, you're left with A Pledge, A Turn, but no Prestige at all.
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BiggerBoat
"Pass me the harpoon"
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Posted - 03/23/2007 : 15:25:06
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quote:
Originally posted by BaftaBabe
Are you SURE you didn't read my review???
I hadn't but I mostly agree with you it would seem. I'm not so sure that Nolan's treatment of Tesla is simplistic though - I think the film was long enough as it was without expounding on Tesla's back story. Yes, Nolan did interpret Tesla's genius to fit his storyline, but I think that this is also a reflection of how the protagonists would view Tesla - they wanted magic, or magic-like effects, not research or theories. In their own selfish quests for power all they wanted to know was what Tesla could do for them, regardless of the consequences.
What they should really do is make a Tesla biopic - THAT I'd go to see. |
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MisterBadIdea 
"PLZ GET MILK, KTHXBYE"
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Posted - 03/23/2007 : 17:13:03
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What's fundamentally wrong here is that you just don't care about the people, and intrigued as one might be about how did they do this or that, the characters have got to engage you on human terms.
I wouldn't completely agree. I care very much about these people's lives, especially at the beginning of the movie, although that drained away by the end, I'll admit.
Your complaints about Tesla are way off-base. It's not his movie, and it shouldn't be. Nolan was under no obligation to give that character any more depth than he did.
But I certainly cared WAYYYYY more than The Illusionist, which is neither sexy nor interesting. |
Edited by - MisterBadIdea on 03/23/2007 17:13:17 |
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randall
"I like to watch."
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Posted - 03/27/2007 : 23:48:32
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| But possible. |
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TitanPa 
"Here four more"
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Posted - 04/01/2007 : 08:41:55
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| I rented the Prestige over the weekend. You can file that under -Never Again-. Just trying to keep up with the story. Just a horrible movie. I loved The Illusionist a whole lot more. I watched the movie care free and was surprised at the end. THe Prestige made me think the whole time. I knew there was going to be a twist. So much back and forth hopping. My mind was so tired at the end. I didnt enjoy it as much as The Illusionist. |
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Beanmimo 
"August review site"
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Posted - 04/26/2007 : 17:28:31
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I've skipped past spoilers and through this entire thread over today.
I enjoyed the fact that it jumps around in time, the illusions, the twists and the sci-fi element, a decent piece of entertainment but one thing left niggles at me (all the other ones being deftly bashed ourt by mty fellow fwiffers)
why oh why did imprisoned Bale have to bargain with Jackman for the safety of his daughter when he has a perfectly goot twin to look after her? |
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Montgomery
"F**k!"
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Posted - 04/28/2007 : 19:13:10
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quote:
Originally posted by Beanmimo
I've skipped past spoilers and through this entire thread over today.
I enjoyed the fact that it jumps around in time, the illusions, the twists and the sci-fi element, a decent piece of entertainment but one thing left niggles at me (all the other ones being deftly bashed ourt by mty fellow fwiffers)
why oh why did imprisoned Bale have to bargain with Jackman for the safety of his daughter when he has a perfectly goot twin to look after her?
Hmmmm. Good question. He obviously had planned for his brother to care for his daughter (or his brother's daughter, they aren't clear about whose kid she is). But, was he worried that his brother would have no way to make money once he was gone? They only had the magic and their best act was ruined with one of them going to be hanged.
What was the deal with Jackman? Was he to take the child? Or provide for her? Because, in the end, Caine had her and we are to assume his brother was to be her father (as he may actually have been, since they don't make that clear).
EM :) |
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randall
"I like to watch."
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Posted - 06/21/2007 : 19:16:25
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Originally posted by BaftaBabe
As to accents -- it brings up an interesting question: these people are supposed to be speaking in their own language, not in English. So there's a directorial choice -- should the actors speak with accents which kind of connote where their characters are from, or should they just speak in their own natural accents? The BBC usually solves the problem [especially when they do Russian drama] by having people speak English, but giving the working class characters Northern or Scottish accents.
Just went back to check this thread again with the ILLUSIONIST discussion. I've just heard the director's commentary so I can actually shed some light:
Director is American. Actors are American, British and Czech. Setting is Prague for Vienna. Track is, obviously, English. So he asked everyone to do a very slight Austrian accent, just enough to sell "foreign" without calling attention to itself. What he didn't want to hear were American or British accents. |
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Sean 
"Necrosphenisciform anthropophagist."
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Posted - 06/22/2007 : 03:22:06
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I watched The Prestige last week, and have finally read this thread (and had The Illusionist spoiled, but no worries, I'll still see it anyway).
I'm familiar with the life of Tesla, so was not expecting any sci-fi. I was so sure that it was a thriller/drama that I refused to believe there was any magic until the very last scene where there were too many Jackmans to be explained by a simple 'identical twin' option. Hence I found many parts confusing. E.g., the hats I explained as Tesla using a new hat each time he did the experiment (for whatever reason) and that the experiment failed each time. And when the cat had been zapped and went outside I simply assumed it met another cat that happened to look similar, not it's clone.
But, the sci-fi aspect is actually given away in the film's genre classification, which I failed to notice until after I'd seen it.
Prestige - Drama, Fantasy, Thriller
Illusionist - Drama, Mystery, Romance, Thriller
So it's clear even from the genre that Prestige goes into 'magic' territory, (although they'd have been more correct using the word 'sci-fi' with the consequence of spoiling it somewhat).
The way I look at it? BBoat mentioned above that Tesla perhaps went a bit nuts later in his life and believed that death rays, teleportation etc were possible, so this movie simply takes an 'alternative history' approach, ie, if Tesla did invent such a machine then how might someone have used it?
There have been other 'Victorian magician movies' in the past, all period dramas based on worldly realities, so why not one that also happens to be sci-fi? I'll have to watch this one again though, now I know it's real genre. |
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Demisemicenturian
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 06/22/2007 : 10:12:21
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quote:
Originally posted by Randall
So he asked everyone to do a very slight Austrian accent, just enough to sell "foreign" without calling attention to itself. What he didn't want to hear were American or British accents.
Yeah, that didn't work at all. The accents do not mesh and so are really jarring. |
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THE PRESTIGE -- MAJOR SPOILER ALERT
