With a triad of connections to the revamped Batman series, director Christopher Nolan and stars Christian Bale and Michael Caine, the movie reeks (I mean that in a good way) of professionalism. From the impressive ensemble cast to the elaborate sets and costumes, The Prestige is what a movie should look like onscreen. It's clear money was spent on the right things.
Working off a novel by Christopher Priest, Nolan tells a complex story of two magicians, Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) and Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman), over the course of their two careers, starting out as on-stage 'volunteers' for a magician in early 20th Century London. As the magician's assistant, Robert's wife Julia (Piper Perabo) nightly puts her life in danger with a stunt where she's tied up and dropped into a huge case of water. But one night, something goes wrong and Julia is killed with Angier blaming Borden for tying the knot too tight. So starts their rivalry that lasts throughout their careers, especially as their fame rises.
The situation escalates when Borden develops a new trick, The Transported Man, that amazes audiences but lacks the showmanship to make him a huge star. Angier on the other hand is not quite the magician his rival his, instead he goes for the show, the star, the applause. That is the story at it's most basic, and I'm wary to give out too much more. The whole movie is told as a story within a story, utilizing flashbacks to detail the two magicians' stories. The opening seemingly gives away the ending (definitely caught me by surprise), but don't be thrown off, there's much more to come.
Ever since the twist ending to The Sixth Sense, there's been a need to trick or fool audiences with a twist near the finale. 'Prestige' qualifies because Nolan intentionally wants to mislead viewers with this unraveling mystery. The opening line of the movie is almost a challenge with Caine's voiceover defying you 'Are you watching closely?' with an oddly haunting shot that does have a lot to do with a twist key to the story. I'm not usually good at spotting these twists, but I caught this one about halfway through the movie. I did not exactly what it was going for, and the ending more than lives up to expectations, but Nolan adds another twist that works really well and has sparked its own fair share of debate at any number of message boards.
As with any twist ending, The Prestige definitely needs repeated viewings to piece everything together. The ending comes so quickly and I was trying to keep up and figure it all out that I wouldn't be surprised if I missed something. And by the end, Bale and Jackman's characters are nothing like the men we met at the start of their story, it is hard to root for either character by then. Their performances are incredibly strong with both actors delivering career bests. For good measure, Caine plays Jackman's ingeneur, his builder, and delivers one of those low-key supporting roles that show what a great actor he can be. If that wasn't enough, there's also David Bowie in a surprisingly good part, Scarlett Johansson, Andy Serkis and Rebecca Hall as Borden's wife.
As the credits started to roll after the final scene, I didn't quite know what to make of this movie. It blends science fiction with a period piece but at the heart is a rivalry that could have been set in any time period. The ending wants you to be confused, forced to go back and think over what you've seen over the last two hours as two different twists are revealed in spectacular fashion with a creepy final shot. And as near as I can figure, it completely works. Frustrating? Hell yes, but worthwhile at the same time.
The Prestige <----trailer (2006): *** 1/2 /****
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