Enjoyable but ultimately silly -- disappointing ending

Rating: 6/10 (4 March 2007)

There are some fine performances in this movie, especially those by David Bowie and Michael Caine. It has a good plot (somewhat spoiled by the confusing flashback-within-a-flashback direction) and some good character studies. But the whole house of cards falls down when the story introduces the ludicrous notion that Tesla invented a machine that could replicate an entire human being -- including clothes and memories? Apart from the fact that it's unbelievable, it causes two problems in the narrative. First, it introduces a deus ex machina, which the Subtle Fiction Writers' Workshop defines as a no-no. Worse, it changes the entire milieu of the movie in mid-stream. Up to that point, we are in the realm of Victorian magic -- no matter what appears to have happened, everything is governed by physical laws. Rather than find a good way for Angier to best Borden, the writers use the cheap narrative trick of allowing Angier to simply step outside the laws of physics.
Since the ending of the film depends on rather clumsy narrative sleight-of-hand, it's hard to swallow...and thus hard to rate this movie as great, instead of just good.