I think The Prestige really benefitted from being based on a (well thought out) novel. It definitely suited Nolan's interests (and he did change a few things), but it also shored up his weak spots (characterisation, human interaction).
I'm slightly surprised Nolan (to date) hasn't worked with Hugh Jackman again, as it seemed like he gave the better performance out of the two leads. Possibly Nolan hates Australians, as he hasn't worked with Guy Pearce again either.
I watched The Prestige intently, hoping to pick up on the twist/how "it" was done, so
the magic machine bollocks at the end felt like a total swiz. I was also half-cut, though, so probably would have appreciated it more as a whole if I'd been properly compos mentis.
Nolan's success is odd because he sold as this director of big, exciting intellectual films, but the high concept stuff is usually lacking in any genuine imagination or intelligence, and his action scenes are usually extremely bland, anodyne and sometimes genuinely incompetently shot and only saved in the editing.
There's a good three-part video series embedded here that compares the truck chase scene in The Dark Knight (a film I really like!) with similar vehicle chase scenes in Salt and The French Connection, blowing holes in Nolan's sloppy craftsmanship. Worth checking out. The point about editing down to PG-13 affecting the impact of the film is a good one, and I wonder whether it also leads to stuff like Catwoman's hand-breaking flip looking so naff.
Anyway, I liked The Dark Knight, Inception (mostly) and Interstellar. Haven't seen Momento or Dunkirk but find most of his other films okayish. Dark Knight Rises is the only one that struck me as downright bad. Mrs Six wants to watch Tenet so I imagine we will soon. But I'm not champing at the bit.
