Review of The Prestige (2006) by Aij — 23 Oct 2006

Let me start off by saying that Chris Nolan is a very skilled director who handles cinematic structure better than most directors around today. I am a great admirer of Memento and Batman Begins and Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman give good performances in this picture.

Now if anyone at the beginning of a movie says, "Are you watching closely" as they pan the camera across hundreds of top hats on the ground in the woods, then You Watch Closely! Once I saw the hats again, I had figured out that [***SPOILERS***] Danton was duplicating himself and that Borden did not kill him, but killed his reasonable facsimile.

Also, when we see Fallon, Borden's engineer and right hand man, we know that he's obviously, Christian Bale in make up, false hair and glasses. This is the problem with Hollywood filmmaking: audiences are so used to seeing characters in medium shots and close-ups that we start to wonder why a character isn't shot that way and it sends up a red flag.

Also, I had to wonder why Fallon was the exact same height as Borden when Michael Caine's character says that Borden is using a double to perform the transporting man illusion. Now, at this point, the conclusion-- or the "prestige" of the transporting man trick and the film itself-- seems rather obvious.

I'm not the most intelligent man but I've seen a few films and when the solution to a mystery is so obvious, we all have to wonder, "How it is really going to end?" Or we think, "That ending is so simple, it can't be the true, so I'll go along for the ride".

The Prestige manages to reveal the ending halfway through the movie and has no "twist" to make anyone feel that the last hour and 30 minutes was worth sitting through! This movie was "Secret Window" all over again except with better direction.

And why didn't they cast Piper Perabo in Scarlett Johansson's role? When are we going to get a non-wooden performance from Scarlett? Is it because she is the cause for so much wood from the men in the audience? Sure she's great to look at but come on! Someone should punch her in the face already.