Great movie, ruined by the "ending"

Rating: 5/10 (5 May 2007)

I say "ending", but since the ending is given away about 2/3 into the movie, its not really at the end. That is just where it is confirmed, to those who were in disbelief that such a great film could be utterly ruined.
Plot lines are elsewhere, I am just going to explain why you should skip this movie. First, I will admit that except for this truly fatal flaw, it is an excellent movie. And that's why this was so incredibly disappointing. The movie takes place in the 19th century. Here on earth. And there is a central mystery that is woven throughout the film, and you wrack your brain trying to figure it out. You follow every twist and turn, scrutinize every detail, develop and evaluate theories on what the answer could be, and eagerly anticipate the revealing. And then, all of a sudden, its science fiction. They had a cloning machine. How completely cowardly a solution that was. If you are watching Star Trek or something, you know that you are in the world of science fiction, where anything goes. A cloning machine is a formal possibility, and if that ends up to be the explanation, you fully accept it because it makes sense in that reference frame. But it is entirely out of place when you are supposedly in a "period piece." Turns out, it was never a period piece, it was science fiction pretending to be a period piece. That's dumb. You can't develop some clever puzzle, and then wimp out and never solve it, but instead just invoke science fiction. Extremely lazy and irresponsible.
This reminds me of another terrible move, The Forgotten. Same exact fatal flaw (except the rest of the movie wasn't that great either). There's a mystery, with clues and evidence that are seemingly impossible to reconcile, and you can't wait to find out how its being done. And then, they tell you its aliens from outer space. Gee, thanks. Stupid stupid stupid. Its more angering with The Prestige because it was so much the better movie, and they ruined it for no reason. A cloning machine over 100 years ago? How freaking stupid.