"The Prestige"'s tricks

Rating: Null/10 (5 November 2006)

Love Chris Nolan's work (although I liked the original "Insomnia" better than his remake)and I went to see "The Prestige" yesterday. Liked the movie but I thought it was a little too convoluted for its own good - you should not have to think that hard at the end to figure the movie out; a great surprise ending startles you when you realize how it all came together. Okay, I realize that Bale had a twin and sacrificed him at the end in order to escape jail (but, question, were they alternating sleeping with his wife and his mistress, Scarlett Johansson? I believe the answer is yes)but the final shot involving the dead Jackman in the water trap is still a little confusing. So, Jackman basically died every night and sacrificed a clone of himself, correct? But why was the water cage there anyway? Just to frame Bale's Borden, right? Why didn't Bale's character (who went backstage) seem surprised when Jackman went into a trapdoor and fell into a water cage for what was a transporting trick? Was it that he may have guessed something was up but was powerless to stop it? Also, the transporter machine by Tesla really worked? I thought that perhaps Borden gave Angier the Tesla name to send him on a wild goose chase? Caine's Cutter character did not know that Jackman was killing himself every night? Where did he dispose of the bodies? Also, Cutter was not in cohoots with Bale's Borden, right? He just felt bad that Jackman's character was taking his kid away, right? Did Cutter know that Bale had a twin brother (either early on or at the end?)?