Prestigious Film About Magic

Rating: 9/10 (17 August 2008)

Christopher Nolan always seems to satisfy us with a unique story or way of telling the story. In The Prestige, he does a bit of both. This film about competing magicians who grow increasingly contemptuous of each other is set during the spiritualist craze of Victorian London. Like a Sherlock Holmes story, it feeds us hidden clues carefully woven into its dialog and plot. Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale are equally compelling and reprehensible as the two competing magicians, and Piper Perabo and Rebecca Hall are the two hapless women in their respective lives. Michael Caine is the marketer and mentor of Hugh Jackman. Scarlett Johansson is the young girl who shifts from one to the other, playing an assistant and mistress. David Bowie is the enigmatic Tesla, disappearing almost completely into character. As with his last film, Batman Begins, Nolan's film contains sumptuous art and set direction, cinematography, and costumes. The soundtrack is also not intrusive, although the audibility of the dialog and volume of the sound throughout the film seem quite low. The film is Hitchcock-like in that its success relies more upon how its executed than individual actors and/or plot points. The film-maker tries distracting us like a magician with shifts in time and points of view changes. It's truly a mesmerizing, multi-layered, and thought-provoking film. Although the film's puzzle may ultimately be deciphered by the discerning viewer, it should not spoil the enjoyment the film provides. However, the fact the film is rated so high on the IMDb's top 250 list is more a tribute to the idea people like to be fooled than its greatness as a film. ***1/2 of 4 stars.