Why The Illusionist was Better than The Prestige
Ever notice how every now and then, movies with the exact same plot or same theme come out at almost the same time? It can be somewhat annoying for movie-goers and even more troublesome for the producers and studios. This is especially damaging when a good smaller budget film comes out at nearly the same time as a big-pocket production of similar plot. This is the case with the two stories of magicians that were released in the spring of 2006: The Prestige, and The Illusionist.
Below are my reasons why The Illusionist (lower budgeted film) was better than The Prestige (big wallet).
1) Overacting on supporting roles: Christian Bale leads the cast for The Prestige; Edward Norton leads the cast for The Illusionist. In both cases, I think the actors did a superb job playing THE CHARACTERS they were given. One thing to remember when talking about acting skills is being able to identify when actors are over-acting, or when they are playing the character correctly. Both are strong here. But their supporting roles were not so strong. On the Illusionist side, we have Paul Giamatti, a type-casted talented actor that gave a bit too much for this role. But his overacting was far surpassed by the on-off acting of Hugh Jackman. Though Jackman’s talent can be seen in later films such as The Fountain, he falls short, way short of any discernable acting skills in The Prestige, placing too much emphasis on the character’s anger, leaving the audience, mainly me, having no sympathy for his character, regardless of his actions.
2) Jessica Biel is hotter than Scarlett Johansson: This is not debatable. If given the choice of two doors, one leading to a scantily clad Jessica Biel, and the other to dolled up Johansson, I knock on Biel’s door every time. Both actresses are hot, but what tips Biel past the mark is that she possesses acting skills as well. Not only can the cleft of her ass cut diamonds, her sharp execution of dialogue melts audiences.
3) The love story in The Illusionist was believable and entertaining: Biel and Norton work together to weave a wonderful story of love and devotion that helps the audience relate to childhood love, and . Johansson’s character in The Prestige sleeps around, and has no clear devotion to ether main character. Her character added very little to the overall story, and merely played as eye candy throughout the film. True, her character is screwed over by both magicians, but I never got the sense that she was truly devoted to either while with the respective men. Characters should never be tacked on.
4) Stop the British Voiceover: They teach us in screenwriting that using voiceover is a bad habit. I disagree; voiceover can add very special elements to good films. However, when it is overused, and repetitive, it simply becomes annoying. Michael Cane, you are a great actor with a resume that will be unmatched. But I don’t need to hear your step by step explanation of what a magic trick consists over several times in the same film. Further, reading from books to explain pivotal plot lines is lazy. I’m not going to go into spoilers there, but Bah! Find another way to show me the story. Don’t use exposition to clean up the mess.
5) Fantasy is fine; Realism is better: These films are stories about magicians. Given that, we as the audience are expected to give a little in terms of the mysticism of how tricks are performed. And for the most part, we don’t question the validity of the “magic.” In The Illusionist, we are exposed to a world of mysticism that doesn’t really boggle the mind; at the very least, we don’t yell out “bullshit!” The plot can survive outside of the magic element of the film, still focusing on the love of the two nearly destined to be apart. The Prestige, on the other hand, presses hard into the world of disbelief, and relies on the audience's ability to buy into the mysticism for the ending to be accepted. I don’t argue that it doesn’t happen here; I argue that a more realistic solution to the puzzle tends to be accepted by audiences more often than not. We love fantastical solutions. But every now and then, we need a solution we can relate to. In The Prestige, this does not happen. They pressed too hard, and it came off as a comp-out solution to a great puzzle.
I think I’ll cut it off here, as the rest of what I have to say breaks into “spoiler” territory.
Below are my reasons why The Illusionist (lower budgeted film) was better than The Prestige (big wallet).
1) Overacting on supporting roles: Christian Bale leads the cast for The Prestige; Edward Norton leads the cast for The Illusionist. In both cases, I think the actors did a superb job playing THE CHARACTERS they were given. One thing to remember when talking about acting skills is being able to identify when actors are over-acting, or when they are playing the character correctly. Both are strong here. But their supporting roles were not so strong. On the Illusionist side, we have Paul Giamatti, a type-casted talented actor that gave a bit too much for this role. But his overacting was far surpassed by the on-off acting of Hugh Jackman. Though Jackman’s talent can be seen in later films such as The Fountain, he falls short, way short of any discernable acting skills in The Prestige, placing too much emphasis on the character’s anger, leaving the audience, mainly me, having no sympathy for his character, regardless of his actions.
2) Jessica Biel is hotter than Scarlett Johansson: This is not debatable. If given the choice of two doors, one leading to a scantily clad Jessica Biel, and the other to dolled up Johansson, I knock on Biel’s door every time. Both actresses are hot, but what tips Biel past the mark is that she possesses acting skills as well. Not only can the cleft of her ass cut diamonds, her sharp execution of dialogue melts audiences.
3) The love story in The Illusionist was believable and entertaining: Biel and Norton work together to weave a wonderful story of love and devotion that helps the audience relate to childhood love, and . Johansson’s character in The Prestige sleeps around, and has no clear devotion to ether main character. Her character added very little to the overall story, and merely played as eye candy throughout the film. True, her character is screwed over by both magicians, but I never got the sense that she was truly devoted to either while with the respective men. Characters should never be tacked on.
4) Stop the British Voiceover: They teach us in screenwriting that using voiceover is a bad habit. I disagree; voiceover can add very special elements to good films. However, when it is overused, and repetitive, it simply becomes annoying. Michael Cane, you are a great actor with a resume that will be unmatched. But I don’t need to hear your step by step explanation of what a magic trick consists over several times in the same film. Further, reading from books to explain pivotal plot lines is lazy. I’m not going to go into spoilers there, but Bah! Find another way to show me the story. Don’t use exposition to clean up the mess.
5) Fantasy is fine; Realism is better: These films are stories about magicians. Given that, we as the audience are expected to give a little in terms of the mysticism of how tricks are performed. And for the most part, we don’t question the validity of the “magic.” In The Illusionist, we are exposed to a world of mysticism that doesn’t really boggle the mind; at the very least, we don’t yell out “bullshit!” The plot can survive outside of the magic element of the film, still focusing on the love of the two nearly destined to be apart. The Prestige, on the other hand, presses hard into the world of disbelief, and relies on the audience's ability to buy into the mysticism for the ending to be accepted. I don’t argue that it doesn’t happen here; I argue that a more realistic solution to the puzzle tends to be accepted by audiences more often than not. We love fantastical solutions. But every now and then, we need a solution we can relate to. In The Prestige, this does not happen. They pressed too hard, and it came off as a comp-out solution to a great puzzle.
I think I’ll cut it off here, as the rest of what I have to say breaks into “spoiler” territory.
posted by Admin at 9:46 AM
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