10 Movies That Were Great Until Their Final Scene

3. The Prestige

Warner Bros.

The Film: Mystery thriller and riveting study of obsession from Christopher Nolan, about warring magicians Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) and Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) trying to get one up on each other in 19th century London. Having travelled to his American homeland to perfect his new trick, Angier returns to England to show off his 'Real Transported Man', whereby he appears to be transported from one end of the theatre to the other in no time at all.

Where It All Goes Wrong: Nolan chooses to leave no doubt in the audience's mind with The Prestige (also see: The Dark Knight Rises, in which the director intriguingly implies Bruce Wayne may still be alive, before he can't take it any longer and just straight-up shows the guy), spelling everything out and switching the film from a mystery thriller into science fiction with the very last scene. At the end, you discover Angier has been cloning himself all along in order to pull off his new trick, meaning all the hints that the truth behind the trick is something more explicable than 'real magic' comes to nothing.

Contributor
Contributor

Lover of film, writer of words, pretentious beyond belief. Thinks Scorsese and Kubrick are the kings of cinema, but PT Anderson and David Fincher are the dashing young princes. Follow Brogan on twitter if you can take shameless self-promotion: @BroganMorris1