The Prestige

Last night's excursion took the household to the theater to watch The Prestige. I made the critical error of going into the film with high expectations -- everyone who's seen it seems to think it's the best film of the year, and made hash of this year's other period stage magician rivalry film with a twist ending, The Illusionist. Also, for the record, I never expected to see one period stage magician rivalry film with a twist ending, let alone two in the same year. That's really odd.

Anyway, having seen both now, I think The Illusionist was the better film. Or at least, the better story. The Illusionist at least presented a story that was vaguely credible. The Prestige asks you to swallow so much that by the time you reach the final twist, even if you've made it through all of the other huge chunks of unlikely, you're going, "Come on, seriously, you guys -- I'm not buying it." And I am willing to accept a great deal of unlikely in film.

All this aside, The Prestige was still probably the more enjoyable film for one reason: Tesla. I mean seriously. If there is a man alive who can watch the sort of bizarre feats of science going on here and not be filled with maniacal glee and demented giggling, I'm not him. Which makes me wonder why there aren't movies about Tesla. The man was practically a fucking alien, he did all sorts of unlikely things with electricity, many of which turned out to be functional, and on top of that, had a huge and demented rivalry with Edison. I mean, what's not to make a major motion picture out of?

The Prestige

Last night's excursion took the household to the theater to watch The Prestige. I made the critical error of going into the film with high expectations -- everyone who's seen it seems to think it's the best film of the year, and made hash of this year's other period stage magician rivalry film with a twist ending, The Illusionist. Also, for the record, I never expected to see one period stage magician rivalry film with a twist ending, let alone two in the same year. That's really odd.

Anyway, having seen both now, I think The Illusionist was the better film. Or at least, the better story. The Illusionist at least presented a story that was vaguely credible. The Prestige asks you to swallow so much that by the time you reach the final twist, even if you've made it through all of the other huge chunks of unlikely, you're going, "Come on, seriously, you guys -- I'm not buying it." And I am willing to accept a great deal of unlikely in film.

All this aside, The Prestige was still probably the more enjoyable film for one reason: Tesla. I mean seriously. If there is a man alive who can watch the sort of bizarre feats of science going on here and not be filled with maniacal glee and demented giggling, I'm not him. Which makes me wonder why there aren't movies about Tesla. The man was practically a fucking alien, he did all sorts of unlikely things with electricity, many of which turned out to be functional, and on top of that, had a huge and demented rivalry with Edison. I mean, what's not to make a major motion picture out of?