Sumptuous, intriguing, but flat characterisation

Rating: 8/10 (2 March 2011)

Christopher Nolan's sumptuous film, 'The Prestige', tells the story of two warring magicians, each obsessed with each other's trick. The film cleverly uses its subject matter to create a mystery story; and as with all magic tricks, the question as to what is real remains open until the very end. There's even an inventive walk-on part for Nikolai Tesla, the real life creator of the alternating current. The film has weaknesses - in some ways, the two magicians are two similar, I wasn't enamoured of Christian Bale's performance, and perhaps at the end, more could have been made of the fundamental difference between true magic and a trick - the film explains (at least partly), but there's a certain lack of moral resonance. But like all good shows, it lures you in - and the longer you watch, the more you want to find out what's really going on.