Excellent performances, yet poor payoff in the end.

Rating: 6/10 (11 November 2006)

I must start by say that, "The Prestige" is not horrible. Every Performance was done well. I particularly enjoy the protagonist role occasionally switching characters.
However, I left from the theater feeling unfulfilled. A strong tool in storytelling is the setup/payoff. You set the audience up for something and then payoff with something totally different, wow factor; i.e. 6th Sense, Momento, Fallen.
In a film about the lives of magicians I expected to feel that wow factor. The Prestige fail in that department. I think the blame may fall on the editor shoulders, or a know-it-all maybe forced the filmmakers to make the story more simple. We all know that Mr. Nolan can use that wow factor, like nobody else.
The field of top hats and cats, while a powerful and beautiful, should not have been shown until after the last shot. By showing us the hats in the first shot, then again after the cat is cloned; we as the audience knew the trick. But if we had been left in the dark about how it worked until the very last scene the audience would be speechless.
Also I felt the plot line connecting Chris's character to Tesla and the machine was moot. Maybe it was supposed to seem that way.
Anyway you should see TP none the less to watch an amazing story about a man trying to take the easy road to fame. And maybe you'll feel as I do. 'I can't wait for the director's cut'.