Now you see it ... Now you wish you hadn't

Rating: 5/10 (30 October 2006)

Sometimes I think movies are losing their magic. Over the years I have learned so much about the movie making process -- about how stunts and special effects are done -- that movies just don't amaze me quite as much any more. It takes a movie made with remarkable skill to make me forget the process that goes on behind the scenes to make the movie magic believable.
To a great degree I suppose that is also true of magic as a performing art. The levitation trick or the sawing-a-woman-in-half bit may be eye-popping to one as a child, but eventually the magic of magic comes from learning the secret of the trick. The irony, of course, is that learning the secret usually destroys the magic. Knowledge is the natural enemy of illusion and magic (cinematic or sleight of hand) can only dazzle if it is so skillfully performed that the technique outweighs the mechanics. In short, achieving the "Wow!" before facing the question of "How?" THE PRESTIGE understands this, and yet it doesn't. It is, for most of the way, a flamboyant display of magician's showmanship, yet it builds up to a revelation of "How?" which comes off as something of a cheat. When the film gets around to revealing the secrets of its tricks, the reality seems far less credible than the illusion of supernatural power. The fake reality of illusion is explained with an even faker illusion of reality.
The film deals with two turn-of-the-century London magicians whose rivalry as competing showmen is fueled by ever-escalating acts of revenge. They strive to not just top each other as performing artists, but to sabotage each other as hated enemies. Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale play the competing wizards (Robert "The Great Danton" Angier and Alfred "The Professor" Borden), who form an emotional juggling act, constantly tossing back and forth the roles of villain and victim. Like a magical coin, sympathy for either man disappears and reappears at unexpected intervals. Likewise, director Christopher Nolan keeps all of his balls in the air, telling the story with flashbacks within flashbacks in a way that is not nearly as confusing as it could have been. All in all, a very intriguing concept for a movie.
Unfortunately, the filmmakers become would-be escape artists and place their film and the two protagonist into traps from which they can't seem to logically escape. Both magicians focus their attention on "The Transported Man" trick, which would appear to require the trickster to be in two places at once. But after promising not one, but two elaborate answers to how they did it, the film builds to a pair of shaggy dog endings, neither of which play fair with the audience. Alfred's secret seems so obvious in retrospect that viewers should have complete permission to slap themselves on their collective forehead for not seeing it coming a mile away. But the film cheats; revealing the secret early on by denying it as a possibility.
On the other hand, Angier's secret takes a totally unconvincing sci-fi twist that not only doesn't play fair with the concept of magic as the art of illusion, but also defies the basic laws of physics. The story doesn't just cheat, it tries to change the trick in the middle of the performance. You don't leave the film feeling amazed; you leave feeling vaguely insulted, like the master illusionist has played you for a chump.
Though lacking in humor (a vital distraction in creating illusion), THE PRESTIGE is a grandly played stunt, full of craftsmanship, showmanship and style. But it is like watching a magician who promises to produce a tiger out of thin air, but can only conjure up a kitten. The result isn't either "Wow!" or "How?" but "Huh?"