Nolan's more modest masterpiece.

Rating: 9/10 (27 January 2013)

Christopher Nolan's The Prestige tells the story of two rival magicians, Borden (Bale) and Angier (Jackman). The two battle over deceiving and outsmarting each other as they try to be the better magician. Spanning several years and often jumping backwards and forwards in time, The Prestige is a beautiful, brooding tale about obsession and how far it can and shouldn't go.
Being one of Christopher Nolan's more modest films (being made between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight and on nowhere near a larger scale), The Prestige is one of those films that only those who pay attention understand it's true greatness. With a typical Nolan-esque cast (Christian Bale, Michael Caine), the film is setup for quality cinema and does not disappoint. From start to finish you are fixated and deprived of attachment to the world around you much like Borden and Angier as you too do not want to miss any of the films trickery.
One of the best things I like about The Prestige is how it deceives the viewer just as a magician would to their own audience. 'Are you watching closely?' a line which is repeated throughout The Prestige hints at the films very own nature. 'You want to be fooled," the last lines of the film as uttered by the legendary Michael Caine, leave the viewer in a bewildered state as they reconsider what they have just seen.
The cinematography is grand. DOP Wally Pfister who has worked on all of Nolan's films I believe, deserves just as much credit as the director himself. From the dark and electrifying theaters to the eerie Colorado Mountains, The Prestige looks fantastic.
Having seen the film several times and enjoyed each viewing as much as the next, The Prestige continues to amaze me. It truly is a mesmerizing and brilliant film which just cannot go unseen by anyone.