In Reply to: Nope. Go to the imdb message board for "The Prestige". posted by Dalton on July 21, 2010 at 11:17:22:
>> Jazz, the concensus says you're wrong. However, if you can explain in detail how your explanation works I'm all ears. Keep in mind it's been a couple years since I saw the film, so please keep it clear. <<
I wouldn't pay attention to what "most people" say. Nolan, through Cutter, says right up front that most people are perfectly happy being fooled, wanting to believe the illusion and failing to work it out. This is a huge hint. The overarching theme of the movie is that everything has a rational explanation. Even Angiers admits this at the end as he's dying "the world is solid all the way through." So it's not set up as a sci fi movie. I have no problem going into a movie and suspending disbelief if the plot calls for it. But "The Prestige" didn't call for it. Quite the opposite, in fact--it had a rational explanation throughout.
Angiers only knew one way to do the trick: finding body doubles. Cutter educated him how to do this in the film and it was a big part of the plot. Angier had been burned by Borden and he had been burned by Tesla, a historical figure who invented AC electricity. Tesla never produced a "cloning device" and had a reputation for promising inventions that he couldn't deliver (e.g., a death ray he tried to sell to the US government) after Edison campaigned to turn Tesla into a pariah. The film was set up so that the audience would believe the illusion and not try to work it out (as Caine's narration said). It was also set up so that every "magic" trick would have a logical explanation. Cloning is not logical.
The tanks were filled with look-alikes that Angier had rounded up in his travels and murdered under the stage during his brief run designed to exact revenge on Borden once and for all. While idiots on IMDB may think it's "impossible" to find a few body doubles, it's easy compared to cloning via an electric device which truly is impossible.
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Follow Ups
- Consensus by idiots on IMDB? - Jazz Inmate 11:49:22 07/21/10 (6)
- RE: Consensus by idiots on IMDB? - ASHRA 16:03:39 07/21/10 (1)
- Exactly. Angier had the method, motive, means and madness NT - Jazz Inmate 18:20:58 07/21/10 (0)
- Nope. The movie is a jape. - Dalton 12:23:59 07/21/10 (3)
- it's not cloning - Jazz Inmate 18:30:19 07/21/10 (2)
- You are wrong. BTW, how about saving the cursing and insults for a forum other than Films. - Tony D. 16:17:11 07/25/10 (1)
- Sorry. You lose NT - Jazz Inmate 14:51:03 07/26/10 (0)