Some very interesting plot twists and originality, though it's a bit grim and lifeless

Rating: 7/10 (17 January 2010)

After seeing that this film is in the IMDb top 100, I thought it was a film I must see. Now that I've seen it, I feel a bit disappointed. Now I must admit that the film was terribly original and had some odd twists, though the film overall is awfully grim and lifeless--mostly because it was hard connecting with the characters.
Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman play magicians who are partners. Things go very well for a while until Jackman's wife is accidentally killed doing a dangerous trick. Jackman blames Bale for this and you really can't tell if Bale did anything wrong or if it was just a sad tragedy. Regardless, Jackman spends the rest of the film persecuting Bale and trying to destroy him. After a while, Bale begins fighting back and it's an all-out war with horrible consequences. I won't say more--because I don't want to spoil the film. However, I will say that it gets really, really, really weird when Nicola Tesla (played very well by David Bowie) enters the fray--creating the ultimate magical box for Jackman.
Aside from the magic box being ridiculously anachronistic, the film is so slow and hard to love--despite it's wonderful twists. It's hard to like either of the magicians (particularly Jackman) and after a while I lost interest--mostly because of the pacing and disagreeable characters. Overall, I greatly respect the film but also didn't particularly enjoy watching it.