Forget Inception's Spinning Top, Christopher Nolan's Best Cliffhanger Happened 4 Years Earlier

Inception ends on what is regarded by many as one of the biggest cliffhangers in cinema history, but one of Christopher Nolan's other films features a better, more surprising conclusion. Nolan's 2010 sci-fi movie revolves around Leonardo DiCaprio's Dom Cobb, a professional thief who steals valuable information by infiltrating his targets' dreams. One day, Cobb is hired to implant an idea into the subconscious of the heir to a business empire (to dissolve said company). In return, Cobb's criminal record will be wiped clean, allowing him to return to his normal life and his children.

Inception was nominated for eight Oscars in 2011, winning four — Best Cinematography, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Visual Effects. It also received a Best Picture nod but lost to The King's Speech.

As Inception continues, more details about Cobb's past arise, piecing together the puzzle that is his character. However, it becomes less clear what's real and what's not (aka dreams). Unfortunately, Nolan doesn't answer this question in Inception's ending, which features Cobb walking away from his spinning totem that discerns between reality and dreams, choosing to be ignorant of the truth. He takes the audience with him as they are left with the question: Has Cobb returned to reality, or is he still dreaming?

The Prestige's Final Scene Leaves More Questions Than Answers

The 2006 Movie Contains A Larger Cliffhanger Compared To Inception

The theater burns at the end of The Prestige

Even though Inception's ending is famously ambiguous, Christopher Nolan's movieThe Prestige concludes on a more shocking note, leaving viewers with multiple questions instead of just one. The 2006 psychological thriller, written by Nolan and his brother, Jonathan Nolan, stars Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale as rival magicians in the late 1800s in London. They compete to see who can pull off the perfect teleportation illusion — the Transported Man. The lengths to which they go to perform the magic trick are quite extreme, resulting in jaw-dropping cliffhangers.

It's unclear if Tesla's machine creates a clone that replaces the original inside and transports the original to another location or if it materializes a clone in a separate spot while the original remains inside.

At the end of The Prestige, the audience learns that Bale's Borden is an identity assumed by twins to pull off the Transported Man trick. As for Jackman's Angier, he utilizes Nikola Tesla's cloning machine for the Transported Man act. Angier enters the machine, and once it clones him, a trap door drops the body into a water tank under the stage to drown while a version of him appears elsewhere. During the final scene, one of the surviving Borden twins discovers numerous water tanks, each filled with one of Angier's dead bodies.

The Prestige Avoided Nolan's Biggest Movie Obsession (& That's Good)

Christopher Nolan opted for a more grounded approach with The Prestige, a decision that allowed him to tell a story without a focus on time.

Posts

While The Prestige's ending explains many mysteries, it poses more questions. For example, it's unclear if Tesla's machine creates a clone that replaces the original inside and transports the original to another location or if it materializes a clone in a separate spot while the original remains inside. If the former is true, that would mean the true Angier died during the first cloning process. It's important to note that the version of Angier that appeared outside the machine the first time said, "Wait, I'm not-" before getting shot, leading some to believe that the original Angier died early on.

The Prestige Is A Lot More Disturbing On A Rewatch

The Clone & Twin Twist Make The Prestige Worth Watching Again

Inception's totem mystery is shocking (and frustrating). Still, it doesn't change someone's views of the 2010 movie on a rewatch. On the other hand, the various reveals at the end of The Prestige make viewers see it in a new light when revisiting the 2006 film. The psychological thriller's story becomes much more disturbing when one already knows Angier's cloning secret and the Borden twin twist ahead of time.

The Prestige Cast	Role
Hugh Jackman	Robert "The Great Danton" Angier/Lord Caldlow
Christian Bale	Alfred "The Professor" Borden/Bernard Fallon
Michael Caine	John Cutter
Scarlett Johansson	Olivia Wenscombe
Piper Perabo	Julia McCullough
Rebecca Hall	Sarah Borden
David Bowie	Nikola Tesla
Andy Serkis	Mr. Alley

Almost every time viewers see Angier in The Prestige, it's likely a new version of him. The audience also knows that the twins are living half-lives, both in love with separate women who think they are one person, which is devastating all on its own. Meanwhile, Inception is pretty much the same movie on a rewatch. Its ending never changes, and audiences are aware going in that they won't get all the answers.

Why Inception's Ending Will Always Be One Of Cinema's Best Cliffhangers

Inception Has Cemented Its Place In Film History

Cobb's totem spinning at the end of Inception

Even though The Prestige's ending is more interesting and mind-blowing, Inception's conclusion will always be more well-regarded. Christopher Nolan movies are known for their plot twists, and the 2010 film's cliffhanger is undoubtedly the most popular as it has become a part of pop culture, cementing its place in cinema history. The spinning totem ending is iconic. Consequently, Inception will always win out (at least, for the general audience) when discussing Nolan's best plot twists, despite The Prestige containing two that are both more intriguing.