The Prestige (2006)

Originally Reviewed

Sunday November 5, 2006

The Prestige is director Christopher Nolan's answer to the highly successful limited release of a film entitled The Illusionist. While both films deal with the art and emotion of magic these two competing films are quite different and have enough gusto to be highly memorable and individually unique. The Prestige offers a darker side to the world of the magician but it doesn't quite live up to the hype in which many people claim the film to be intricately complex and challenging.

Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) and Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) are two young aspiring magicians whose dual personalities lead to a deadly rivalry which neither one can extinguish. Alfred Borden is man who isn't afraid to get his hands dirty if it will lead to his rise to fame. Robert Angier isn't one to take an unnecessary risk, and is completely satisfied in living his life the way he always has by doing things the safe and proper way. But Angier's philosophy is soon about to change when tragedy strikes.

It all begins when Borden decides to setup a trick in his own style and refute the warnings of Angier and the inventor of the illusions, Cutter (Michael Caine). In his arrogance to prove that his way is better it leads to the death of Angier's wife, and so begins the rivalry. Borden claims he didn't know what happened, but Angier is not willing to accept the death of his wife as a simple accident. Therefore the incident leads to the two magicians parting ways and beginning their own acts, and a life long war.

In a attempt at revenge Angier strikes back at Borden and two men begin to sabotage each others performances, only fueling the fire of hatred. When Borden reveals his master illusion to the public, The Transporting Man, Angier is astonished by its prestige and plagued by it's secret. Borden's greatest illusion leads Angier on a mission to discover the secret of The Transporting Man at any cost, yet the price of greatness is extremely high as the twos hatred for one another only leads them down a road of even greater pain and destruction.

Walking into The Prestige I was prepared for a mind bending adventure that would daze and confuse me, at least that is what I was lead to believe by so many reviews of this film. But in all actuality, The Prestige is anything but mind boggling, try watching Stay if you really want a film that will cause you to think so hard you get cramps. Now this isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it seems people are really pushing this film as a mind bender, and it really isn't. All the major plot twists in the film, and there are quite a few, are easily recognizable before the film finally gets around to revealing them.

The true identity of Borden's manager, the truth behind the death of Angier, all if it becomes pretty clear halfway through the film.  By the time the big ending hits none of it should really be a huge surprise considering everything that's been revealed leading up to it. Now of course there are a bunch of smaller occurrences throughout the film that you'll more than likely gloss over, that all of a sudden make a whole lot of sense, such as Borden not remembering what kind of knot he tied in the beginning of the film, and why he wasn't always sincere when he told his wife he loved her. These little things don't seem that important in the scheme of the film but they all add up in the end. There are a few unpredictable surprises but for the most part the large plot twists are fairly predictable if you’re paying attention.

The Prestige as a whole is extremely well done, the sets are incredible, the costumes are authentic looking and some of the locations are stunning. The story is complimented with a great cast of actors, most notably of course Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman who both give marvelous performances. Bale was born to be a villainous type character but Jackman doesn't play a crazy man half bad either. Michael Cane is Michael Cane, nothing much more can be said as he always gives a great performance and this film is no exception. As for Scarlett Johansson, who had a minor role in this film, she wasn't half bad and it was nice to see her in a film that did not put me into a comma.

In the end, The Prestige is a must see film, its not as confusing as many would lead you to believe, the most confusing parts of the film are trying decide whose more of a villain since all the characters in the film seem to have a dark side, even Cutter almost appears to be the puppet master between the two magicians. This film really reminded me of the saying "there is no honor among thieves", this also seems to hold true to all the magicians in this film, because you can never figure out where anyone's loyalty lies.

One thing I was very surprised about was the lack luster revenues this film is pulling in at the box office, especially with the great cast of actors, I expected this to be a big blockbuster. Maybe due to the fact it hasn't received much advertising. But numbers aside this is a great film and a marvelous story, although I don't see it being Oscar material like many others do, because it doesn't seem to fit the mold of the typical films that are usually chosen as Best Film of the Year.

In comparison The Illusionist, is my favorite over The Prestige only because it's a much more efficient film and accomplishes as much in such a smaller amount of time and still manages to completely "WOW!" you at the very end with a very interesting turn of events which explains the entire film. The Prestige doesn't have much of a surprise ending when you have already figured it out 30 minutes prior. But when it's all said and done the decision is ultimately up to each viewer, some will find the dark and gritty style of The Prestige to be more entertaining than the classic and independent feel of The Illusionist, but in reality they are both great films.

9/10