“The Prestige”
Directed By: Christopher Nolan. Starring: Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall.
“The Prestige”, directed by Christopher Nolan, delves into the twisted, secretive existence of two magicians’- Rupert Angier (Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Bale). The two begin as friends- fellow plants in the audience of a more famous magician. After a tragic accident during a routine trick, they turn against one another. The upper hand changes throughout, as they compete with one another to find the ultimate trick. At first, they simply sneak into each other’s shows and compare their tricks. But, when Borden performs an astounding trick, Angier becomes obsessed with figuring out how he does it. Soon their competition becomes more ruthless as do the lengths to which they will go to unseat one another as best magician.
The film opens with Cutter (Caine), an engineer of “magical” contraptions for Angier, describing the Three Acts of every magic trick. Act One is the “The Pledge”, which is where the magician shows the audience a regular object that will be involved in the trick. Act Two, “The Turn” is where that regular object does something surprising, such as disappear. Act Three is “The Prestige”, where there are “twists and turns, where lives hang in the balance, and you see something shocking you’ve never seen before”. The Three Acts of the trick align neatly in this story, written by the director and his brother Jonathan, with the three-act structure of the film. In essence, we meet these rather ordinary magician-wannabes, they set out to do extraordinary things, and that’s as far as I’ll go- I don’t want to ruin the trick.
Creative, out of sequence editing, blends those elements in a way that will keep you on your toes and constantly questioning what you’ve seen. Like any audience watching a great magician, you’ll be intrigued. That’s a testament to the film- that even as you watch the destruction that obsession effects on the lives of Borden and Angier, you’ll still understand their desire to discover the truth- because you want to learn it too.
Story: B
Acting: A-
Visuals: B
Originality: B+
Enjoyability: B
Overall: B
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