Fine Looking Production Wasted on an Incoherent Script

Rating: 6/10 (30 October 2006)

Christopher Nolan's latest puzzle movie is like a big heaping plate of spaghetti: when taken together, it looks like a complete and satisfying meal, but if you pick up any one noodle individually, you find that it's not connected to any of the others and just trails into nothing.
I felt like a complete moron walking out of this movie, because I completely missed the big surprise twist at the end. My wife had to explain it to me on the way home. But in thinking back on the movie, I decided that the fault did not lie with me (or so I'd like to believe). Christopher and Jonathan Nolan have written a muddled and confusing screenplay, in which every single plot detail (and there are many) gets equal weight and nothing takes central focus. The ending doesn't feel so much like a creative twist as it does a cheap trick.
The performances are fine, though none of the characters ever comes alive. There's so much intricate plot to race through that no one has time to develop any nuance into their roles, and all of the characters serve as ciphers for the plot rather than as psychologically believable and consistent individuals. Christian Bale comes off best; Hugh Jackman is as bland as ever; Michael Caine is just kind of there; and Scarlett Johannsen may as well not even be in the movie for the importance placed upon her.
Movies like "The Prestige" bug me. They spend all of their time trying so hard to trick and mislead that they never get around to telling a compelling story that I care anything about. Five minutes after you walk out of the theatre, the plot starts unraveling like wet Kleenex, because the film doesn't build its plot from the character level up (which the other magician film from this year, "The Illusionist," did and which is why that's a better movie). "The Prestige" is a magic trick that leaves you wanting your money back.
Grade: B-