*SPOILERS ABOUND*
This is going to be a long post, just bear with me. Hopefully no one has posted a similar thought, because this would be a waste. This is what I believe the "real" ending is to the movie.
I didn't really all 43 pages of this thread as I just saw this movie the other night. And let me tell you something, it was awesome, and the way I see it, depending on the person, there was 2 endings to that movie, it just depends on the way you see it. The thing that gives it away for me is one of the last lines in the movie after Jackman is dead, all the secrets revealed. The importance of this is that it is said AFTER everything has been revealed, or at least thats what you think. Caine says something to the effect of " Now you are looking for the secret, but you won't find it because you want to be fooled."
Basically the machine never worked, there were never any duplicates of Jackman, just Root as his double and he was the only person Jackman killed. And the theory that Bale had a clone made is moot because then he would know how Jackman is doing the trick instead of having to go and see for himself. Bale had an actual identical twin brother. At the end where it shows the water tanks, they are what YOU want to think they are, duplicates or the other dead clones of Jackman. Because you bought into it, you want to believe that actual magic has happened, but it hasn't. Its all sleight of hand, performed masterfully by Nolan. The cat and hats scene, that was staged, why would Telsa's assistant so willingly let his cat be put in that machine. What the audience doesn't know is that Jackman realizes this as well when he experiments with it. That whole scene or memory of Jackman shooting his clone was a lie, something to throw Bale off.
Plus, why would this supposed clone or real Jackman look so stunned when he fell in the water, he should have known one of two options were to happen, and this was his ultimate trick, why would he looked so desperate to ruin it by escaping? Because that was Root, thinking he would just fall in a bail of hay just like every other time, but instead he was used as a pawn to frame Bale. Notice he never speaks before the trick, just like when he was used in the earlier version of the Transported Man. And thats why Jackman says its his last show, because he wanted the final say, he wanted to win against Bale once and for all, and he knew Bale couldn't stay away, sooner or later he would come to the show and that is when Jackman asks the audience to inspect the machine and Bale is one of them chosen. And thats why Jackman switched the bail of hay for the water tank.
Thats why the stage hands are all blind, so they can't testify against Jackman. The whole thing about the blind stagehands taking out covered tanks, another ploy to fool Bale and the audience into what you think and want to believe is happening. This really was a great movie, and both endings are great, but once you figure out what it all REALLY means, its so much more satisfying. It adds totally new layers to the movie. Thats why its such a great movie. Because both endings could work depending on how you choose or want to view the movie. I don't think I have ever seen a movie quite like this one, its a true cinematic experience.
I ve seen people say the twists were that Bale had a twin brother, the Telsa machine creating duplicates, etc. To me, the real twist was that there was no magic at all, just the audience believing what they want to believe. At the end where the camera is panning around at the water tanks, and there are silhouettes in there but you can't clearly see what it is, its just a metaphor. Its what you want the secret to be, they want to be fooled. Caine is saying that exact line as the camera is panning around, but everyone kind of misses it because they are looking at the "secret" when there really is none. There was never any clones. Thats the real twist, the one that turns your mind against you in a way. And thats the best kind of twist of all. Complete and utter misdirection. This should be the movie of the year, or at least in the running for it. Some people don't get that ending though. They kind of just accept the ending. Because the movie gets more complex as it goes along and things aren't what they seem, most of the audience just kind of lets them believe what they see at the end. Its such a deep movie as is without the twist that I explained, that its hard to pick up. Not sure how to explain it. They didn't "watch closely" enough.
I know that The Departed had a bunch of newer stuff on it.
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