Directed by Christopher Nolan of Batman Begins and Memento fame, The Prestige is about a rivalry by two 19th century magicians played by Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale. It also has Michael “my name is Michael Caine” Caine in it, so what’s not to love?
“I came back for my own purposes,” said the Time Traveler, looking around my booklined study. “I chose you to talk to because it was . . . convenient. And I don’t want you to do a goddamned thing. There’s nothing you can do. But relax . . . we’re not going to be talking about personal things. Such as, say, the year, day, and hour of your death. I don’t even know that sort of trivial information, although I could look it up quickly enough. You can release that white-knuckled grip you have on the edge of your desk.” I tried to relax. “What do you want to talk about?” I said. “The Century War,” said the Time Traveler. I blinked and tried to remember some history. “You mean the Hundred Year War? Fifteenth Century? Fourteenth? Sometime around there. Between . . . France and England? Henry V? Kenneth Branagh? Or was it . . .” “I mean the Century War with Islam,” interrupted the Time Traveler. “Your future. Everyone’s.” He was no longer smiling. Without asking, or offering to pour me any, he ...
Now go watch the trailer for the Illusionist and then there will be a quiz where you have to prove you can tell them apart.
ReplyDeleteActually, they look like a similar era, similar production design, and otherwise entirely different stories from each other. I'll happily see both.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise entirely different aside from both stories focusing on a stage magician who may or may not have actual magic powers.
ReplyDeleteThere are some obvious differences to be sure, but I'm still trying to figure out which team saw the others trailer first, and whether there was any effort (or will be in the future) to make their differences more obvious.
A stage magician who might have real powers, in the heyday of magician stageshows (Vegas withstanding) didn't really stand out as coincident as the era and production design did to me, for some reason.
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