The Prestige

Another Nolan film, The Prestige's twist is so incredible that it not only shifts our perspective of the narrative, it shifts the entire genre. As a film about magicians, it was clear that Nolan was leading up to some grand reveal - the "prestige", as it is called - but there's no way anybody could have possibly seen the twists and turns of the final act coming. When we discover that Hugh Jackman's character - who is trying desperately to recreate Christian Bale's "disappearing man" act - hasn't really been teleporting, it's not all that surprising; after all, we know there's a trick. What is surprising is the truth: he's been cloning himself over and over again every night and letting his previous version drown. If that wasn't enough to set audiences barking up the wrong tree, Nolan saves one last reveal for the final moments of the film, where we discover that there's nothing magical about Bale's character at all; he just has a twin brother, and the pair have been living a single life. If only all magic tricks were so simple.