I think you fundamentally misunderstood the plot of the movie. The goal of the characters' endeavor is to make their subject think they *aren't* dreaming. If they figure it out (as the beginning of the movie showed us) then their attempted mind-crimes will fail. If there were flying horses or whatever than the jig is up. As well, when things *do* go awry (like whenever Marion Cotillard subverts a scene) it's much more noticeable and visceral to the audience.
Nolan is fundamentally a realism-centered director, more interested in human psychology than its psyche. There is no real "magic" in The Prestige, everything in Batman from the wings to the alter-ego itself is grounded in reality. That's just his style and comfort zone.
Ultimately the movie is about many things, and I think one of its themes is how easily the lines between dreaming and reality can be blurred. This is achieved by making the dream world(s) appear realistic, and by making the "real" world appear less so. One could even reasonably conclude (based on the ending) that Cobb dreamed the entire movie up!
I really think you're overlooking what the movie did well in the interests of focusing on what you wanted it to be. Gordon-Levitt's fight in the shifting hotel rooms was so spectacular _precisely_ because of the (relative) scarcity of scenes like it. If every scene was as surreal as that one, it'd quickly become a tedious exercise in form over function. Plus I would contend that there was plenty of surrealism in this movie, but at the end of the day Nolan is a storyteller above all else.
As far as the action was concerned, it's not the director's strong suit I agree (ex: the hand-to-hand combat in Batman Begins), but at the same time, I kept expecting most of Cobb's team to formulaically die during their endeavor, and surprisingly to me none of them did. Being willing _not_ to casually dispose of characters at pre-determined intervals (think: Predators) is itself a risky maneuver.
Honestly though, I think Nolan's dense but understandable story-within-stories presentation was fairly impressive (the climax alone deftly blends 4 different plots and settings at once!), and I've never been so emotionally invested in a van falling off a bridge for 45 minutes before.
Nolan is fundamentally a realism-centered director, more interested in human psychology than its psyche. There is no real "magic" in The Prestige, everything in Batman from the wings to the alter-ego itself is grounded in reality. That's just his style and comfort zone.
Ultimately the movie is about many things, and I think one of its themes is how easily the lines between dreaming and reality can be blurred. This is achieved by making the dream world(s) appear realistic, and by making the "real" world appear less so. One could even reasonably conclude (based on the ending) that Cobb dreamed the entire movie up!
I really think you're overlooking what the movie did well in the interests of focusing on what you wanted it to be. Gordon-Levitt's fight in the shifting hotel rooms was so spectacular _precisely_ because of the (relative) scarcity of scenes like it. If every scene was as surreal as that one, it'd quickly become a tedious exercise in form over function. Plus I would contend that there was plenty of surrealism in this movie, but at the end of the day Nolan is a storyteller above all else.
As far as the action was concerned, it's not the director's strong suit I agree (ex: the hand-to-hand combat in Batman Begins), but at the same time, I kept expecting most of Cobb's team to formulaically die during their endeavor, and surprisingly to me none of them did. Being willing _not_ to casually dispose of characters at pre-determined intervals (think: Predators) is itself a risky maneuver.
Honestly though, I think Nolan's dense but understandable story-within-stories presentation was fairly impressive (the climax alone deftly blends 4 different plots and settings at once!), and I've never been so emotionally invested in a van falling off a bridge for 45 minutes before.
-Ben
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