Sleight of hand

Rating: 9/10 (4 August 2007)

SPOILERS, SPOILERS, SPOILERS.
It took me no time at all to realise that the obvious solution to Christian Bale's "Transported Man" trick was that he had a twin. And scene after scene confirmed this: You know, main character always shot in a way you couldn't really see him, in shadow, big hair, big hat. But it took me quite some time to realise that this was merely a distraction that audiences were supposed to cling on to, in order to distract them from the real trick in the film. What a disappointment then, that the real trick was a fantasy element, a piece of supernatural design that undermined the point of the film: that everything in magic is illusion. The final trick was no trick at all, but a chunk of science fiction. ***MAIN SPOILER *** Hugh Jackman persuades the scientist Tesla to create a machine that clones him. In his final 100 performances, he repeatedly clones himself and commits suicide so that his clone lives and Christian Bale can be accused of his murder. Quite how one distinguishes between who is the real person when a clone is manufactured is glossed over. But clearly, as far as the film is concerned, when the original version of you dies, you live on in the clone. This might have been acceptable in the key scene where Jackman creates his first clone, had the outcome been different. In the movie, Jackman immediately shoots the clone dead. And yet conversely, his final trick is based on him dying and the clone surviving. Perhaps if in that key scene, Jackman had put the gun to his own head and committed suicide, so that he lived on in the clone, then that science fiction concept might have had some credibility. As it is, the scene seems to become another attempt to try and confuse the audience, leaving me with a distasteful set of plot-holes to ponder, rather than accepting a stunningly designed and shocking finale.