the book is probably better
but I remember being thoroughly disappointed by the cop-out of the film's ending and the final reveal. It would have been so much cleverer if it had been rationalised
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Fri 23 Jul 2010, 17:00, 1 reply, 16 years ago)

there's kind of two parts to the ending
the christian bale one is much better executed in the film than the hugh jackman one
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Fri 23 Jul 2010, 17:10, Reply)

well Christian Bale is better
than Hugh Jackman so fair enough. I was talking more about the carefulness of how the illusion was unwound in the Illusionist, as compared to how it remained with a supernatural emphasis in the Prestige
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Fri 23 Jul 2010, 17:12, Reply)

it's less supernatural and more "he's got a machine from a brilliant scientist that is supposed to teleport you, but actually duplicates you"
the build up to it, and the actual reveal were quite well handled I thought.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Fri 23 Jul 2010, 17:14, Reply)

but the fact is
that science is almost as far from us, as it was from the time of the film. So while not supernatural, it was a really lazy way out of a film that was so much about magic and the power of illusion and tricks
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Fri 23 Jul 2010, 17:20, Reply)

I get your point
but that's in the book as well
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Fri 23 Jul 2010, 18:35, Reply)