whiskey tango foxtrot
Nov. 18th, 2006 01:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thehefnerI've come to feel that my enjoyment of something cannot be killed by it being over-hyped. Or sure, that's the common feeling, "it was so hyped up, it was a letdown," I know that. And yet, I believe that if something is really, truly of quality, even if I don't want to like it, the excellence of the work will shine through and I will admit, however grudgingly if I were resistant, that "god damn it, it's good."
Then there are times that there's something I want to see, but others see it before me and hype it up like mad. Then I want to see it more than ever, even if I am cautious as, like, virtually everybody is praising the hell out of it. That's a good deal of pressure and hype to live up to.
But then, there are times when the movie isn't just a letdown. No, it's worse than mere disappointment. It's... how to describe this... it's... bafflement. Bafflement at a movie that astounded and thrilled pretty much everyone I know who has seen it, and yet has left me totally, completely cold.
Such a film is THE PRESTIGE.
And I wanted to like it, God I did. But I just... didn't... care. At no point in this movie did I care about ANY of these cold, selfish people. I swear, the only character for whom I had any sympathy and emotional investment was Andy Serkis' cat. That's it. And I kept hoping, "See where it's going, get to the end, to the big reveal," because I had just a few days ago finished ENDER'S GAME, a book I really, really didn't care for until the very end, an end which salvaged the whole thing for me and made it excellent, so I was still in that mindset. Nope. Not so.
***
SPOILERS
***
Ok, we're a jaded modern audience, everyone knew SOMETHING was up with the beared silent guy in the glasses, right? I couldn't have been the only one. Did anyone NOT know it was someone in disguise? Did anyone NOT figure out who it was? Halfway through, by process of elimination, I'd already figured out that is was Christian Bale too. I figured he got a double too, that would have been acceptable.
But folks, did I miss a mention of a brother somewhere? Did anyone bring that up? Because a surprise brother completely out of left fucking field is one thing, but a god damn TWIN brother?! Oh, come on! Once you start throwing twins in the plot, it becomes DAVID BLANE'S GENERAL HOSPITAL.
And y'know, I was prepared for the leap into "real" magic. But... a cloning/teleportation device? What? Bizarrely enough for me, I could have accepted real magic, but pseudo-science felt... really weird and out-of-place. Unless we're to believe that Tesla actually was a Wizard, an actual mage, but no, he was meant to be in the realm of science, yes? Well, at that point the movie slipped into the realm of fantasy, a fantasy that just didn't fit in the realism of everything else. It just felt random.
But that's just one element. My problem is the whole movie, which felt like a cycle of "Magician A does a trick, Magician B sabotages it, Magician B does even better version of the same trick, Magician A sabotages it, Magician A does the best version yet, Magician B sabotages it, etc." I don't CARE about you selfish, unlikable, unsympathetic men. The movie would have satisfied me more if they had ended up killing one another. Seriously, it would have.
***
END SPOILERS
***
The worst part is how damn frustrated I am right now. I don't get it! I'm baffled. How could this movie so deeply connect with so many people when it left me totally, completely cold? Cold, cold is the word! There was nothing warm, nothing for me to hold on to or care about in this whole damn movie. And I hate this feeling, I really do.
This is worse than mere disappointment. Because I feel like the only person in the world who just... doesn't... get it.
Then there are times that there's something I want to see, but others see it before me and hype it up like mad. Then I want to see it more than ever, even if I am cautious as, like, virtually everybody is praising the hell out of it. That's a good deal of pressure and hype to live up to.
But then, there are times when the movie isn't just a letdown. No, it's worse than mere disappointment. It's... how to describe this... it's... bafflement. Bafflement at a movie that astounded and thrilled pretty much everyone I know who has seen it, and yet has left me totally, completely cold.
Such a film is THE PRESTIGE.
And I wanted to like it, God I did. But I just... didn't... care. At no point in this movie did I care about ANY of these cold, selfish people. I swear, the only character for whom I had any sympathy and emotional investment was Andy Serkis' cat. That's it. And I kept hoping, "See where it's going, get to the end, to the big reveal," because I had just a few days ago finished ENDER'S GAME, a book I really, really didn't care for until the very end, an end which salvaged the whole thing for me and made it excellent, so I was still in that mindset. Nope. Not so.
***
SPOILERS
***
Ok, we're a jaded modern audience, everyone knew SOMETHING was up with the beared silent guy in the glasses, right? I couldn't have been the only one. Did anyone NOT know it was someone in disguise? Did anyone NOT figure out who it was? Halfway through, by process of elimination, I'd already figured out that is was Christian Bale too. I figured he got a double too, that would have been acceptable.
But folks, did I miss a mention of a brother somewhere? Did anyone bring that up? Because a surprise brother completely out of left fucking field is one thing, but a god damn TWIN brother?! Oh, come on! Once you start throwing twins in the plot, it becomes DAVID BLANE'S GENERAL HOSPITAL.
And y'know, I was prepared for the leap into "real" magic. But... a cloning/teleportation device? What? Bizarrely enough for me, I could have accepted real magic, but pseudo-science felt... really weird and out-of-place. Unless we're to believe that Tesla actually was a Wizard, an actual mage, but no, he was meant to be in the realm of science, yes? Well, at that point the movie slipped into the realm of fantasy, a fantasy that just didn't fit in the realism of everything else. It just felt random.
But that's just one element. My problem is the whole movie, which felt like a cycle of "Magician A does a trick, Magician B sabotages it, Magician B does even better version of the same trick, Magician A sabotages it, Magician A does the best version yet, Magician B sabotages it, etc." I don't CARE about you selfish, unlikable, unsympathetic men. The movie would have satisfied me more if they had ended up killing one another. Seriously, it would have.
***
END SPOILERS
***
The worst part is how damn frustrated I am right now. I don't get it! I'm baffled. How could this movie so deeply connect with so many people when it left me totally, completely cold? Cold, cold is the word! There was nothing warm, nothing for me to hold on to or care about in this whole damn movie. And I hate this feeling, I really do.
This is worse than mere disappointment. Because I feel like the only person in the world who just... doesn't... get it.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-11-18 06:08 pm (UTC)They were both so nasty that I had a hard time caring about either of them. But Borden wasn't straight-up Bateman-evil, either, so I couldn't hate him.
And I almost wish I could have hated him. Because then I would have cared. Bale and Jackman were awesome, but...meh.
Have you read the m15m for The Prestige?
My mom wanted me to ask you if you know a play called The Sugar Bean Sisters. That's the one she wants to direct next season.
*hugs*
no subject
Date: 2006-11-18 08:17 pm (UTC)I also recommend
http://teh-no.livejournal.com/120523.html
And I have never heard of that play! Is good?
no subject
Date: 2006-11-18 08:30 pm (UTC)A strange bird-like woman approaches an old house at the edge of an ancient swamp in Sugar Bean, Florida. Inside the woman's feather-covered overnight case is a recent edition of the lurid supermarket tabloid, "The Weekly World News". The bold headline reads:
ALIENS LAND IN FLORIDA SWAMP!
SUGAR BEAN WOMAN SAYS "THEY WILL RETURN"!
Mormon sisters Faye and Willie Mae Nettles return home to their ramshackle swamp dwelling after a disastrous daytrip to Disney World. Willie is deeply distressed at having lost her prized Eva Gabor wig on Space Mountain and places the blame squarely on sister Faye's shoulders.
As Faye hurries to finalize preparations for the return of the "space people", Willie laments the fact that today's calamity is only the latest in a long string of Nettles family tragedies.
A disturbance in the sugarcane field lures the sisters outside to investigate. On the porch, Faye recalls how "Papa Fate" claimed to have witnessed the dead walk through Sugar Bean on a similar night many years before. A frightened Willie Mae clutches her "Book of Mormon" as Faye bravely descends the steps of the porch.
The ornithic stranger suddenly appears out of the darkness of Buster Swamp, setting in motion a chain of extraordinary events. Lies begin to unravel and the truth is revealed as "The Sugar Bean Sisters" hatch a diabolical plot to ensure the aliens' return.
This is the night they will make contact.
Sounds like zany fun, and my mom would have a ball directing it!