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Question about "The Prestige"

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rockyct

Diamond Member
Jun 23, 2001
6,656
32
91
Originally posted by: Minjin
I just watched it. Very good movie. However, just like with the Illusionist, I guessed the tricks (the cloning and the twins) very early in the movie. Both movies gave plenty of clues. I'm not sure how someone could actually get to the end without figuring out everything that has been happening.

Excellent blend of different genres (mystery, sci-fi, drama)...

edit: oh and I really don't think the wife ever knew. I think she was just going nuts because her man would act different every day.

Yeah, it was the same way for me. The wife always saying that only half of the time Borden loved her was the main reason I knew they were two people, but there was always a lot of secrecy to the engineer that made me suspicious.

 

Stuxnet

Diamond Member
Jun 16, 2005
8,392
1
0
Originally posted by: purbeast0
This movie was good up until it became a sci-fi flick.

I mean I still enjoyed it, but it just became stupid once I realized they were cloning stuff.

Totally agree. That kind of killed it for me... it turned what had been up to that point a GREAT movie to a slightly-above-average movie.
 

torpid

Lifer
Sep 14, 2003
11,631
11
76
I thought she knew but suspected that the one who she married was cheating since he could do it and get away with it easily. I'll have to watch it again... didn't he introduce fallon in the presence of others?
 

anxi80

Lifer
Jul 7, 2002
12,294
2
0
Originally posted by: AUMM
I just saw this movie the other night... was wondering about a couple things that maybe I missed...

1. Why did he have to keep killing himself(his clone)? Why couldn't he just create one clone and use him repeatedly?
contrary to what he told olivia earlier he was obsessed with revenge and wanted borden to suffer. i think thats also partially the reason for the limited engangement (besides the fact that he would have 100 dead angier's in tanks in his studio), he knew borden eventually would come down there and he could frame him for the murder.

if it was truly about the magic and not revenge then him and his like-minded clone would just do similiar to what borden and fallon were doing and not have to die every night. and also bank on the fact that their show would be a better act because of angier's superior showmanship.
 

torpid

Lifer
Sep 14, 2003
11,631
11
76
Not sure he could have pulled just using the double in the act he had with the clone. It would be too difficult to stage a lift that way. It would require digging up the entire building unless they already happened to have a basement underneath the other areas.

It was also a little more perverse. He had no moral qualms about killing his double. I'm sure he could have gotten away with it indefinitely if he just got an incinerator.
 

Minjin

Platinum Member
Jan 18, 2003
2,208
1
81
Originally posted by: torpid
Not sure he could have pulled just using the double in the act he had with the clone. It would be too difficult to stage a lift that way. It would require digging up the entire building unless they already happened to have a basement underneath the other areas.

It was also a little more perverse. He had no moral qualms about killing his double. I'm sure he could have gotten away with it indefinitely if he just got an incinerator.

Actually he wasn't killing his double, he was killing himself...every single time. He had to go on stage every night knowing that he would drown to death. His copy would be created and unveil himself and know that he had to die the next day.
 

torpid

Lifer
Sep 14, 2003
11,631
11
76
Originally posted by: Minjin
Actually he wasn't killing his double, he was killing himself...every single time. He had to go on stage every night knowing that he would drown to death. His copy would be created and unveil himself and know that he had to die the next day.

You're right, my mistake. But that just means he was even more perverse.
 

glutenberg

Golden Member
Sep 2, 2004
1,941
0
0
Originally posted by: Minjin
Originally posted by: torpid
Not sure he could have pulled just using the double in the act he had with the clone. It would be too difficult to stage a lift that way. It would require digging up the entire building unless they already happened to have a basement underneath the other areas.

It was also a little more perverse. He had no moral qualms about killing his double. I'm sure he could have gotten away with it indefinitely if he just got an incinerator.

Actually he wasn't killing his double, he was killing himself...every single time. He had to go on stage every night knowing that he would drown to death. His copy would be created and unveil himself and know that he had to die the next day.

Did they ever establish with certainty that the original stayed in the machine and the copy is teleported?
 

Minjin

Platinum Member
Jan 18, 2003
2,208
1
81
Originally posted by: glutenberg
Originally posted by: Minjin
Originally posted by: torpid
Not sure he could have pulled just using the double in the act he had with the clone. It would be too difficult to stage a lift that way. It would require digging up the entire building unless they already happened to have a basement underneath the other areas.

It was also a little more perverse. He had no moral qualms about killing his double. I'm sure he could have gotten away with it indefinitely if he just got an incinerator.

Actually he wasn't killing his double, he was killing himself...every single time. He had to go on stage every night knowing that he would drown to death. His copy would be created and unveil himself and know that he had to die the next day.

Did they ever establish with certainty that the original stayed in the machine and the copy is teleported?

I don't think we could ever be certain since they are identical, but which makes more sense? The machine analyzes the object, then creates a duplicate outside the machine OR the machine analyzes the object, creates a duplicate inside the machine in exactly the same spot as the original and teleports the original to some location. The first makes much more sense.
 

DaveSimmons

Elite Member
Aug 12, 2001
40,730
670
126
Originally posted by: glutenberg
Did they ever establish with certainty that the original stayed in the machine and the copy is teleported?
No one was teleported. The machine was a copier rather than a teleporter, it just created the exact double at a short distance away.

But no, there was no section of the movie that spelled this out explicitly.
 

torpid

Lifer
Sep 14, 2003
11,631
11
76
Originally posted by: Minjin
I don't think we could ever be certain since they are identical, but which makes more sense? The machine analyzes the object, then creates a duplicate outside the machine OR the machine analyzes the object, creates a duplicate inside the machine in exactly the same spot as the original and teleports the original to some location. The first makes much more sense.

Neither makes sense. It's like debating what is more undefined, 2/0 or 1/0
 

Alone

Diamond Member
Nov 19, 2006
7,490
0
0
One would have to assume that the machine transports and duplicates. It's unlikely that Tesla made such a mistake. Granted, he wasn't expecting that result, but I'm sure he could have realized what was happening.
 

GasX

Lifer
Feb 8, 2001
29,033
6
81
This movie was a huge let down. So much hype about the suprise ending that would have me watch it over and over and I had the movie figured out half way through...

So lame... There was no mind blowing plot twist. The movie just got around to actually saying what was painfully obvious from an early point in the film...

And yes, the wife knew there were two of them. Women can sniff out a lie better than a bloodhound.
 

torpid

Lifer
Sep 14, 2003
11,631
11
76
I had almost everything figured out early too, but still enjoyed the movie quite a bit. Surprise endings are a lame trick anyway. I prefer a movie that's good for 100% of the time and not good just for the last 10 seconds.
 

hdeck

Lifer
Sep 26, 2002
14,530
1
0
Originally posted by: torpid
I had almost everything figured out early too, but still enjoyed the movie quite a bit. Surprise endings are a lame trick anyway. I prefer a movie that's good for 100% of the time and not good just for the last 10 seconds.

did you figure out that the machine doesn't work? :Q
 

GasX

Lifer
Feb 8, 2001
29,033
6
81
Originally posted by: hdeck
Originally posted by: torpid
I had almost everything figured out early too, but still enjoyed the movie quite a bit. Surprise endings are a lame trick anyway. I prefer a movie that's good for 100% of the time and not good just for the last 10 seconds.

did you figure out that the machine doesn't work? :Q

What do you mean? It makes a copy of whatever is in it. That was made very clear. :confused:
 

hdeck

Lifer
Sep 26, 2002
14,530
1
0
Originally posted by: Mwilding
Originally posted by: hdeck
Originally posted by: torpid
I had almost everything figured out early too, but still enjoyed the movie quite a bit. Surprise endings are a lame trick anyway. I prefer a movie that's good for 100% of the time and not good just for the last 10 seconds.

did you figure out that the machine doesn't work? :Q

What do you mean? It makes a copy of whatever is in it. That was made very clear. :confused:

actually, it wasn't. the entire movie is based upon angier & borden trying to one-up each other and hide their secrets from one another. part of this was planting false information into their diaries to throw each other off. borden did it with the tesla reference & got angier to go all the way to america in search of the fabled machine that let him do the teleporting trick. tesla never had a working machine. once angier figured it out, he used tesla to make a visually stunning machine that appeared to teleport him (or make clones as he says in his diary).

throughout the movie we are all misled by lies in their diaries that twist the story. angier gave borden his diary to read & did everything he could to make him think the machine actually worked.

the whole premise of the movie comes from cutter's comment "now you're looking for the secret, but you won't find it, because you don't really want to know; you want to be fooled." the secret is that the machine doesn't work, not that borden has a twin.
 

Jeeebus

Diamond Member
Aug 29, 2006
9,181
901
126
Originally posted by: hdeck
Originally posted by: Mwilding
Originally posted by: hdeck
Originally posted by: torpid
I had almost everything figured out early too, but still enjoyed the movie quite a bit. Surprise endings are a lame trick anyway. I prefer a movie that's good for 100% of the time and not good just for the last 10 seconds.

did you figure out that the machine doesn't work? :Q

What do you mean? It makes a copy of whatever is in it. That was made very clear. :confused:

actually, it wasn't. the entire movie is based upon angier & borden trying to one-up each other and hide their secrets from one another. part of this was planting false information into their diaries to throw each other off. borden did it with the tesla reference & got angier to go all the way to america in search of the fabled machine that let him do the teleporting trick. tesla never had a working machine. once angier figured it out, he used tesla to make a visually stunning machine that appeared to teleport him (or make clones as he says in his diary).

throughout the movie we are all misled by lies in their diaries that twist the story. angier gave borden his diary to read & did everything he could to make him think the machine actually worked.

the whole premise of the movie comes from cutter's comment "now you're looking for the secret, but you won't find it, because you don't really want to know; you want to be fooled." the secret is that the machine doesn't work, not that borden has a twin.

And the 10 dead clones floating around in the tanks at the end of the movie are Angier's 10 identical twins? :confused:
 

hdeck

Lifer
Sep 26, 2002
14,530
1
0
Originally posted by: Jeeebus
Originally posted by: hdeck
Originally posted by: Mwilding
Originally posted by: hdeck
Originally posted by: torpid
I had almost everything figured out early too, but still enjoyed the movie quite a bit. Surprise endings are a lame trick anyway. I prefer a movie that's good for 100% of the time and not good just for the last 10 seconds.

did you figure out that the machine doesn't work? :Q

What do you mean? It makes a copy of whatever is in it. That was made very clear. :confused:

actually, it wasn't. the entire movie is based upon angier & borden trying to one-up each other and hide their secrets from one another. part of this was planting false information into their diaries to throw each other off. borden did it with the tesla reference & got angier to go all the way to america in search of the fabled machine that let him do the teleporting trick. tesla never had a working machine. once angier figured it out, he used tesla to make a visually stunning machine that appeared to teleport him (or make clones as he says in his diary).

throughout the movie we are all misled by lies in their diaries that twist the story. angier gave borden his diary to read & did everything he could to make him think the machine actually worked.

the whole premise of the movie comes from cutter's comment "now you're looking for the secret, but you won't find it, because you don't really want to know; you want to be fooled." the secret is that the machine doesn't work, not that borden has a twin.

And the 10 dead clones floating around in the tanks at the end of the movie are Angier's 10 identical twins? :confused:

you don't see 10 dead clones floating around. you see murky water with bodies inside. you only clearly see 1, angier's double root.
 

CptObvious

Platinum Member
Mar 5, 2004
2,501
7
81
Originally posted by: tboo
I just finished this last night-good flick. Id like to read up more on Tesla. He sounds like an interesting man.
Same here, I think a biopic movie about Tesla vs. Edison would be pretty good.
 

Minjin

Platinum Member
Jan 18, 2003
2,208
1
81
Originally posted by: hdeck
Originally posted by: Jeeebus
Originally posted by: hdeck
Originally posted by: Mwilding
Originally posted by: hdeck
Originally posted by: torpid
I had almost everything figured out early too, but still enjoyed the movie quite a bit. Surprise endings are a lame trick anyway. I prefer a movie that's good for 100% of the time and not good just for the last 10 seconds.

did you figure out that the machine doesn't work? :Q

What do you mean? It makes a copy of whatever is in it. That was made very clear. :confused:

actually, it wasn't. the entire movie is based upon angier & borden trying to one-up each other and hide their secrets from one another. part of this was planting false information into their diaries to throw each other off. borden did it with the tesla reference & got angier to go all the way to america in search of the fabled machine that let him do the teleporting trick. tesla never had a working machine. once angier figured it out, he used tesla to make a visually stunning machine that appeared to teleport him (or make clones as he says in his diary).

throughout the movie we are all misled by lies in their diaries that twist the story. angier gave borden his diary to read & did everything he could to make him think the machine actually worked.

the whole premise of the movie comes from cutter's comment "now you're looking for the secret, but you won't find it, because you don't really want to know; you want to be fooled." the secret is that the machine doesn't work, not that borden has a twin.

And the 10 dead clones floating around in the tanks at the end of the movie are Angier's 10 identical twins? :confused:

you don't see 10 dead clones floating around. you see murky water with bodies inside. you only clearly see 1, angier's double root.

Do you honestly believe this stuff you are saying? If your theory was true, the double died during the one time that Borden happened to go down there. But then the murder was reported and the body would have been taken to the morgue and later buried. Are you saying that he went and dug up the body to put him in the tank....to fool who? The viewers?

The stage hands were blind for a reason. Although I personally think its silly that he used a different tank each time. I thought that he was just having the stage hands empty the tank out somewhere every night. Those tanks can't be cheap... ;)
 

hdeck

Lifer
Sep 26, 2002
14,530
1
0
you act like they never went to the cemetery to dig up people before.

it's not a sci-fi film. it never was. go read the book.
 

purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
53,643
6,527
126
Originally posted by: hdeck
you act like they never went to the cemetery to dig up people before.

it's not a sci-fi film. it never was. go read the book.

:roll: to all your comments in this thread ...
 

hdeck

Lifer
Sep 26, 2002
14,530
1
0
Originally posted by: purbeast0
Originally posted by: hdeck
you act like they never went to the cemetery to dig up people before.

it's not a sci-fi film. it never was. go read the book.

:roll: to all your comments in this thread ...

oh boo hoo, you don't agree. the machine doesn't work. continue thinking it does if it will make you feel better.