The Prestige/YMMV
- Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy: Hence.
- Fridge Logic / Fridge Brilliance: Relates to Moral Event Horizon below. Lord Cauldlow is definitely dead before Borden kills him at the end. The original one, anyway. How do we know this? The first time Cauldlow uses the machine, he leaves a revolver right next to where he stands as he turns the machine on. The man who shoots the double of Cauldlow is standing in this spot when he picks up the gun and fires at the double, who is 40 feet away. Either Cauldlow was transported away, in which case he was the one to be shot, or he stayed where he was, in which case the clone was shot. In either case, the way the trick works on stage is that the man who is standing in the machine at the completion of the trick is dropped into the tank of water and drowns. So, either Cauldlow was transported the first time he ever used the machine and was shot by his close, or the clone is the one transported to saftey, and the "real" Cauldlow died the first time he used the trick onstage.
- Precisely. This calls back to a thought experiment done by Derek Parfit: In the experiment, a scenario in the near future is envisaged where a device is made that transports you to Mars by you going into a booth, the technology first scanning and then disintegrating your atoms, and this scan being sent to the corresponding booth on Mars, where a pile of atoms is reconstituted as you. From the perspective of the person coming out of the booth on Mars, they stepped into the booth on earth, and a moment later they stepped out of the one on Mars. It appears then, that P2 (Mars you) at t2 (when they step out of the Mars booth) is identical to P1 (Earth you) at t1 (when they step into the Earth booth) However, a second scenario is thought up - the booth on earth no longer immediately disintegrates you, but rather radiates you to the point that you will inevitably die within a few days. In this scenario, P2 cannot be identical to P1, because P1 is still there, on earth - the property of identity is not passed on to P2 at the point of P1's death, since P2 exists before P1 dies. So, Parfit points out, does not the same hold for the first scenario? There is no continuation of conciousness, merely a clone who has the exact same memories, and so is convinced that they are P1, whereas the actual P1, who was P1 all their life up until then, died on Earth in both scenarios. Similarly, Cauldlow died the first time that the man in the box was killed by his prestige.
- While it is highly probably that you are correct it is important to note that Angier said that every time he didn't know if he would be the man in the box or the man on stage. To me that implies that it is not a given that the machine is necessarily consistent as to which is which and further discussion really gets into a Wibbly-Wobbly-Consciousness-Wonsciousness territory.
- It Was His Sled: The ending started being discussed openly almost as soon as the film came out.
- Before that, even. In the book, the "twist" isn't a secret, you're in on it pretty much from the start. It's the tale of how it gets used which makes it compelling.
- Magnificent Bastard: Both Angier and Borden.
- Moral Event Horizon: The Reveal. The fact that Lord Cauldlow killed his clones hundreds of times just to beat his long-standing rival makes him a Complete Monster, really.
- Though, on the other hand, its a little unclear if thats what happened, or if the machine worked the same way it always did, with the clone created some distance away. In that case the real Angier died ages ago, and he and his clones have been commited suicide over and over again, until Borden could be framed, and the surviving one at the end is another clone. This makes him less a Complete Monster and more completely, batshit insane.
- Nightmare Fuel: The extents that both Angier and Borden went to to pull off the Transported Man.
- The final shot of the seemingly endless pile of hats and the rows of dead clones shows just how far Angier went for vengeance.
- Role Association: This is the closest we'll ever get to Wolverine vs. Batman on the big screen. Also throw in some Alfred. Not to mention Gollum is working for the Goblin King. Oh, and Batman falls in love with the Black Widow.
- Seinfeldian Conversation: Some of the lengthy philosophizing among fans (including on this very page) as to which Angier is the "real" one comes off as this. They're exact duplicates, and therefore have precisely the same claim to any "identity". Bam, done, stop writing essays!
- Tear Jerker: On a second viewing Borden and Fallon's final goodbye is heartbreaking.
- The Woobie: Tesla. Just consider this exchange:
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Tesla: Go home. Forget this thing. I can recognize an obsession, no good will come of it. |
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