Prestige, The (2006)

But I am a magician. I’m just naturally a magician.

I must first apologize for the recent shortage of updates, getting a new kitchen installed at home and things have been abit hectic.

Kicking back off today with a more recent addition to the 1001 List, Christopher Nolan’s 2006 film The Prestige and I must admit, I was a little surprised to find this one on such a prestigious (no pun intended) list.

A fine film told through the story of warring magicians, Nolan goes back to the well of exploring similar themes of obsession and duplicity that he looked at in Memento but unlike Memento this film did not have a great narrative selling point, nor was it particularly ground breaking.

The story of Angier (Jackman) and Borden (Bale) feuding to become the greatest magician is a fun ride of one-upmanship and there are fine supporting performances from the wives and love interests – Piper Perabo, Scarlett Johansson & Rebecca Hall. Too, Michael Caine playing the ‘21^st century Michael Caine role’ with Ziggy Stardust and Gollum providing the film’s scientific wonderment.

Usually I will venture into spoilers for my reviews but I will leave this one spoiler free, because I think the film really hinges on whether you A) invest into this spoiler B) are satisfied with the pay-off’s.

I fell somewhere in the middle, I was genuinely surprised by the reveal, and looking back on the story, I was surprised I didn’t spot it first time around, I don’t think it is all that well concealed. It was a somewhat satisfying ending and merited re-watch because there is an interesting narrative as to the lengths these two men are willing to go.

BEST SCENE: Hugh Jackman’s natural theatricality and charisma make all of his ‘live audience’ magical tricks a spectacle, the best of these being when he transports himself for the first time.

BEST CHARACTER: Angier/Lord Cadlow though he is set up as the more deceitful character, I actually identified with his story more, here was a magician who was willing to go one step past deception and trickery and willing to create REAL magic through science and murder.

BEST QUOTE: “You never understood why we did this. The audience knows the truth: the world is simple. It's miserable, solid all the way through. But if you could fool them, even for a second, then you can make them wonder, and then you... then you got to see something really special. You really don't know? It was... it was the look on their faces.”

RATING:  ★★★★– I enjoyed this film more when it first came out, in retrospect, it is still an entertaining look at man’s obsession but Nolan already exhausted that to perfection in Memento. He has since gone on to make Inception, which I also consider to be a greater work than The Prestige. The premise is really cool though and the cast is stacked, even if it has an air of Shyamalan un-rewatchability about it.

MOVIES WATCHED:15
MOVIES REMAINING:986