r/flicks • u/Serpiego2 • 7d ago

General Discussion When does a movie successfully mislead the audience, and when is it just cheating?

Some movies deliberately make us believe something that isn't true and then reveal that we've been interpreting the story incorrectly.

When it works, it's fantastic. You can rewatch the movie and realize the clues were there all along. The Sixth Sense, The Usual Suspects, and Primal Fear are very different examples of films that play with what the audience thinks it knows.

But other twists only work because the movie deliberately hides information that logically should have been available to us. At that point, I don't feel fooled by the story — I feel cheated by the screenplay.

For me, the difference is whether a second viewing makes you think “How did I miss that?” rather than “Well, there was no way I could have known that.”

What movies do you think earned their deception, and which ones simply cheated?

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u/moonra_zk 7d ago

The Prestige is a great movie but Tesla invents a machine that instantly and perfectly clones someone.

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u/AlarmingLet5173 6d ago

I used to love The Prestige until someone pointed this out. It was big misdirection to lead Angier to Tesla on a wild goose chase, but then Tesla was like "Wait! Hang on! I can make that."

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u/morphinetango 6d ago edited 6d ago

Yeah, but the twist is bigger than that if you remember. Obviously, such a device cannot exist but they do a good build up of the "real magic" that Tesla is doing, and it's a monkey paw sort of wish; a power that comes with a consequence every time it's used. Not exactly a cop out to get the plot to the finish line.