Review of The Prestige (2006) by Vguru R — 03 Nov 2014

Are you watching closely? Sorry, are you reading closely? I don't think that question made sense, but anyway it's a giveaway to the next Christopher Nolan film I'll be talking about: THE PRESTIGE (2006). The Prestige is based off the Christopher Priest novel of the same name, and also reunited Nolan with his Batman Begins actors: Christian Bale and Michael Caine. The film also stars Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall, David Bowie, and Caesar himself Andy Serkis (!!!). The Prestige is a drama set during the late 19th century revolving around the rivalry between two stage magicians (Bale and Jackman) in London attempting to one-up the other by creating the best stage illusion; however their battle soon puts both of them on dark, twisted paths that ultimately ends with tragic results for them and their loved ones. In this film Nolan once again uses a non-linear storyline, yet still takes it a step further. The Prestige starts off with Albert Borden (Bale) getting accused of killing his rival Robert Angier (Jackman) and while in prison he gets a hold of Angier's secret journal which sets the audience into a flashback from Angier's perspective. BUT in the flashback some parts of it are of Angier reading Borden's secret journal to find his illusion secrets which sets us into another flashback of Borden's life. And the film switches in between these timelines throughout, essentially showing each magician's perspective of particular events that occur within the film.

Like every Nolan film, all of the performances are great but in my opinion Hugh Jackman is the standout. His portrayal of Angier was absolutely captivating, and I've said it before and I'll say it again: I absolutely love it when he's acting as characters other than Wolverine (don't get me wrong though I LOVE Wolverine) because it shows so many other layers to his acting abilities. Unfortunately he and Nolan never work together again after The Prestige but hopefully sometime in the future they will. Bale was also fantastic as Borden and his chemistry with Rebecca Hall, who plays his wife in the movie, was awesome. In some scenes they have conversations about whether or not Borden loves her... And every single time I'm enthralled by those scenes because it continuously showcases that sometimes this guy is more obsessed with finding the best trick than caring about his family (of course there's ANOTHER reason why but that gets into spoiler territory). I especially loved Hall's performance, who I think is a little underrated and fairly not seen as much in Hollywood. Then she gets starring roles in crap movies like Transcendence (coincidentally directed by Wally Pfister, the DP of The Prestige). Scarlett Johansson was equally great but you actually see much less of her than you might think. Also, to put it simply, David Bowie as Nikola Tesla was badass.

I completely have to applaud Nolan for re-creating the 1800s-London vibe so well. Not that I've lived during that time or anything but it every set piece looked so real and with Wally Pfister's amazing cinematography, the beauty of it all only increases. Though Hans Zimmer goes on to works with Nolan several times in his career, he DID NOT compose the score for The Prestige; it was actually Memento's David Julyan whose haunting melodies in The Prestige were extraordinary. Although I completely love The Prestige and the overall story that was adapted from the award winning novel, I must say it was a little annoying to see Nolan once again use a non-linear structure for his films. He did it with Following and again for part of Batman Begins. Of course I've never read the novel so it could be that it has a similar structure to the film, and if so then Nolan did a fantastic job of executing it.

By far the best part though was THE TWIST ENDING... ABRACADABRA! Only those who have seen it will get that. But damn that ending was spectacular and it's a great twist because it totally caught me by surprise and actually made sense. It's always fun to have a twist like that because it has your jaw dropping by the end of the movie and keeps thinking about the complexity and ingenuity of the twist. Of course that's SPOILER territory so I won't delve too much into it (unfortunately). This movie is great and it's so different from other magician related films, in that from beginning to end it's a full on drama-there is no quirky, childish humor instituted into the movie, all the characters and their actions can be taken seriously. Fans of both magic and Nolan can enjoy The Prestige, I assure everyone that. But for those who have seen it, go off in the comments on what you thought of that awesome ending - 8.5/10.