The Prestige (SPOILER! Entire plot given away!)
Posted: Wed Nov 08, 2006 8:40 am
So I went to see this movie not too long ago, having absolutely no clue what it would be about. I can't really say I was disappointed, but mostly because I had no particular expectations in the first place.
Here's what I can say about the film: It was standard. Way too standard. There was nothing unique in regards to the storyline or characters. The only not-so-standard thing was how the story was told (which really, by this point may be kind of standard).
The plot, such as it is, is this: Wolverine and Batman are rival magicians. There was an accident in which a girl died, so they both hate each other and proceed to always try to show each other up, often resorting to illegal means to do so. Anyway, so Batman invents this trick where he seems to teleport. Wolverine becomes obsessed with figuring out how its done, and confronts Batman about it. Batman tells Wolvie to go visit Jareth the Goblin King. Wolverine then figures out that this was a red herring, but it works out anyway because Jareth builds Wolvie a cloning machine. So Wolverine starts doing this stage trick where his clone drops through a trapdoor and the real Wolvie appears on the other side of the theatre, and people go crazy over it. Batman, naturally, just HAS to know how its done, so during one performance he goes backstage. During this particular performance, Wolvie fails to reappear, and Batman thinks he sees why: Somehow Wolvie has gotten stuck in a locked tank full of water. Batman tries to save him, but Wolvie drowns and Batman is accused of his murder and found guilty and sentenced to death and Wolverine inherits all of Batman's stuff. But Batman wins in the end because he had an exact twin that nobody knew about.
The only non-standard thing about this movie is, as I said, the way the story was told: It's not linear. It's one of those movies where the story jumps around chronologically. Case in point: The film actually begins with the murder trial and Batman's conviction. And later scenes you find out Wolverine's wife is dead, then see scenes where he's making out with her, etc. In short, basically the film is an attempt to make a standard story seem less standard by telling it in an unusual way where you have to piece it together. Color me unimpressed.
A plotline I've seen before, told in an unusual way, is still a plotline I've seen before. This isn't even mentioning the holes and contrivances, but I'm more concerned about the utter unoriginality of the movie and how the director thought he could disguise it in the presentation. I quite frankly am getting sick of these pretentious shlock flicks that suffer from the Final Fantasy syndrome of acting like they're all so deep and complicated and meaningful, and then you watch them and they're nothing special at best, outright laughable at worst, and just plain not worth the time.
It's no wonder the market for Asian films is getting bigger.
Here's what I can say about the film: It was standard. Way too standard. There was nothing unique in regards to the storyline or characters. The only not-so-standard thing was how the story was told (which really, by this point may be kind of standard).
The plot, such as it is, is this: Wolverine and Batman are rival magicians. There was an accident in which a girl died, so they both hate each other and proceed to always try to show each other up, often resorting to illegal means to do so. Anyway, so Batman invents this trick where he seems to teleport. Wolverine becomes obsessed with figuring out how its done, and confronts Batman about it. Batman tells Wolvie to go visit Jareth the Goblin King. Wolverine then figures out that this was a red herring, but it works out anyway because Jareth builds Wolvie a cloning machine. So Wolverine starts doing this stage trick where his clone drops through a trapdoor and the real Wolvie appears on the other side of the theatre, and people go crazy over it. Batman, naturally, just HAS to know how its done, so during one performance he goes backstage. During this particular performance, Wolvie fails to reappear, and Batman thinks he sees why: Somehow Wolvie has gotten stuck in a locked tank full of water. Batman tries to save him, but Wolvie drowns and Batman is accused of his murder and found guilty and sentenced to death and Wolverine inherits all of Batman's stuff. But Batman wins in the end because he had an exact twin that nobody knew about.
The only non-standard thing about this movie is, as I said, the way the story was told: It's not linear. It's one of those movies where the story jumps around chronologically. Case in point: The film actually begins with the murder trial and Batman's conviction. And later scenes you find out Wolverine's wife is dead, then see scenes where he's making out with her, etc. In short, basically the film is an attempt to make a standard story seem less standard by telling it in an unusual way where you have to piece it together. Color me unimpressed.
A plotline I've seen before, told in an unusual way, is still a plotline I've seen before. This isn't even mentioning the holes and contrivances, but I'm more concerned about the utter unoriginality of the movie and how the director thought he could disguise it in the presentation. I quite frankly am getting sick of these pretentious shlock flicks that suffer from the Final Fantasy syndrome of acting like they're all so deep and complicated and meaningful, and then you watch them and they're nothing special at best, outright laughable at worst, and just plain not worth the time.
It's no wonder the market for Asian films is getting bigger.
