prestige

The Prestige

U.S. Release Date: 10/20/06
Running Time: 2:13
Rated: PG-13 (Violence, sexual situations)

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson Rebecca Hall, Piper Perabo, David Bowie

Director: Christopher Nolan
Screenplay: Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan, based on the novel by Christopher Priest
Music: David Julyan
Studio: Warner Brothers

WARNING: If you would like to be surprised by every aspect of The Prestige, avoid reading the sixth paragraph of this review. Otherwise, read at your own risk.

The Prestige is about the slight-of-hand of magicians. It’s also Nolan’s attempt at pulling a slight-of-hand on the audience. In viewing The Prestige under an analytical eye, it’s easy to spot the twists and turns before they occur. It’s too bad that in most cases, the curtain cannot remain over the eyes into the final act.

Much like a trick, The Prestige contains “the pledge,” “the turn,” and “the prestige.” The Prestige is more than pulling a rabbit out of a hat or making a bird disappear. To relate to one of the film’s reoccurring tricks: the bird isn’t necessarily killed, but in the revelation of “the prestige,” the trick is lessened.

At the turn of the 19th century in London, Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman), his wife Julia (Piper Perabo), and Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) all work as an apprentice, assistant, and apprentice – respectively – to a magician. When one of the magician’s tricks goes wrong and Julia dies, Robert blames Alfred—forever changing their friendship to rivalry.

As Angier develops into “The Great Danton” and Borden “The Professor,” both magicians strive to outdo the other and learn their secrets. One trick in particular – known as “The Transported Man” pushes Angier to pawn his own assistant, Olivia Wenscombe (Scarlett Johansson), off onto Borden as a spy. When the result backfires, tragic consequences ensue for both men of magic.

The Prestige is the type of impressively executed production that carries with it the ability to cloud the mind. With that being said, you will certainly want to view the film again and again. On repeat viewings, you’ll catch more of what makes the film special. Yet, if you were shocked in a The Sixth Sense sort of way on the initial watch, then repeat viewings will present the obvious clues that some spotted with a cinch the first time around.

These “obvious clues” include: the wife’s ability to decipher whether or not her husband meant his words, the assumption of using a double with a strikingly similar handicap, a dad who doesn’t remember that he promised his own daughter to take her to the zoo, and the pretense of living your entire life as part of an act. The inclusion of Chung Ling Soo is the most crippling to keeping “the prestige” under wraps; this American who disguised himself as a Chinaman lived his entire life without breaking character in public—much like that of Borden. Even so, in spite of the clear indications, the final “twist” parallels that of an X-files episode’s titled “The Amazing Maleeni.”

When a mash-up of things successfully come together, it’s like magic. While The Prestige is audacious, complex, and praiseworthy, it falls short of the magic act it’s cracked up to be. Nonetheless, it is extremely hard to not recommend as your money’s worth. Its acting is intense, and its direction is creditable. Above all, The Prestige is a dynamic period piece.

However, when the movie dovetails into Nikola Tesla’s (David Bowie) historic “scientific” research, it is Tesla’s machinery that is hailed as paranormal sorcery. All-the-while, the movie’s mystical magic is minimized to mere illusions and trickery. Why spiral into subatomic science-fiction in the middle of a perplexing magic show? And again, why play the audience for fools?

Amidst these two questions still lies a supernatural motion-picture. See it to believe it.