Christopher Nolan's dark fantasy piece is smart, dazzling, but a little meandering

Rating: 7/10 (11 September 2016)

The main purpose of magic is not to impress others nor to deceive them, but to simply give the illusion of something fake appear real for artistic purposes. That is lesson incorporated in this dark fantasy period piece starring Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale as rival magicians in an intensifying battle to discover the truth of each other. Set with an intelligent, but convoluted plot and a visually alluring design of nineteenth century England, this movie sees director Christopher Nolan delivering his signature filmmaking tropes and bringing them together to form a dazzling mix of fantasy, suspense, and mystery elements in a story that like most of Nolan's works, drives with a fair amount of complexity and emotional twist; though suffers some occasional blemishes in the narrative department. Based on the novel by British author Christopher Priest, the film tells the story of Robert Angier (played by Hugh Jackman) and Alfred Bordon (played by Christian Bale), two magicians who sustain a friendship as assistants for their town's magic shows run by master magician John Cutter (played by Michael Caine). But one night during a show, their performance goes terribly wrong that results in tragedy. The fateful event turns their duo's friendship into a bitter rivalry and soon leads to the two in an obsessive battle to discover each other's secrets. It's not long before their heated rivalry escalates into a downward spiral of deceit that threatens to not only tear apart their careers on stage, but their own personal beings.
As this film deals with magic and sorcery, it should come to no surprise that Christopher Nolan brings a wide plethora of twists to the mix; and with a smoothly compelling script and striking visual resonance, Nolan appears to be at the top of his game. Wielding with spectacular directorial talent, Nolan drives this film with plenty of nuance and astounding visual potency. As the story revolves around a heated competition of revenge and deception that makes for some very dark and occasionally morbid moments, it pulls into a dark, eerie journey of Christopher Priest's novel with plenty of surprises supplemented by Nolan's stylish direction. Though the plot holds a fair amount of intelligence, the unnecessarily slow pacing does tend to kill the interest of the story. Instead of introducing the lead magicians at the beginning, the film proceeds through a non-linear narrative opening with Christian Bale's character Alfred on murder trail (for reasons you don't learn until later) which becomes intertwined throughout the story until the very end, before giving us the proper introduction on the characters. Along with this another subplot centering on famous inventor Nikola Tesla who's oddly played by singer David Bowie, trying to invent a teleporter. Nolan's use of non-linear storytelling not only overcomplicates the plot, but he doesn't execute in a way that is effective as what he achieved in 'Memento'. On the bright side, this director manages to keep things moving at least most of the time, and builds up the story up to a shocking, unpredictable conclusion. The performances by Christian Bale , fresh off of Nolan's 'Batman Begins', and Hugh Jackman both stand out; and the supporting cast including Michael Caine and Scarlett Johansson as Robert Angier's assistant also make great appeal in their roles. While nothing particularly Oscar-worthy, these actors manage to fit the bill.
The Prestige, though slightly inferior to Christoper Nolan's other works, is a smart, dazzling fantasy period piece with alluring energy of Nolan's directorial efforts and a fine array of charismatic performances by a likable cast. Though the level of complexity in the plot make the story a challenge for the most naive film goers to sit through, it also serves as a reminder of the fine cinematic talent Nolan never stops bringing to the screen.