Great movie with some flaws.

Rating: 8/10 (4 January 2014)

First off, I want to say that when I was young, I used to visit circus a lot and a lot of events which showcased Magic Tricks, I was even enthralled and excited at such events being held at my school. I was also interested and learning Magic Tricks and showing them to my friends and parents. There is nothing to be ashamed about in this case, a lot of people watched Magic as kids. The basic premise of the Prestige is just perfect for my taste as it is about Magic Tricks and two Magicians.
When I first heard about the Prestige, i thought it was some kind of a wizard movie with real magic, People having a reason for flying and transporting simple for no real reason other than it's REAL MAGIC. Luckily when I did more research I was glad that it was actually more realistic and based on Magic Tricks.
This movie tells you about the life of Magicians back in the late 1800s, Magic meant everything to them they were obsessed with their tricks and they felt revealing their tricks would ruin them. Secrets were everything to them. The setting of the movie mind you in fantastic, the visuals, the areas, the clothes and even the *FUNNY* accents kind of suit the setting. A rivalry between two magicians which starts as a personal one turns more into a obsessive and professional one as one gets obsessed with the secret behind the other's trick and wants to prove he is the better magician.
The plot is very good overall, but the movie can and will get confusing because the timeline is not depicted well, when you are watching the Long Past, the recent past or the present, things will get confusing and there is not text guiding you to understand which year you are in. This will cause the viewer to mix things up and he will lose attention. The story would have greatly benefited from a chronological order or at least a proper descriptions of the years. The plot also starts out extremely slow and drags out till the rivalry actually starts.
Acting wise, the film is excellent, Hugh Jackman is awesome as Angier or the Great Danton, he is just natural in his acting, Christian Bale gives a great performance, many may find his character confusing and hard to understand at first but it will all come to ahead, his fake accent is not good though. Michael Caine is great and actually has a natural accent. The rest of the cast does a great job as well.
I also feel like that an addition of such a Sci-Fi dimension kind of hurt the movie, not only it is not exactly believable if the time period is taken into consideration a more logical explanation would have worked better. The secrets of Bale and Angier serve as the twists of the movie. Angier's was disappointing whereas Bale's was something I saw coming a few minutes before it took place. After a second watch it is laughable how many clues were there, perhaps more analytic and deep thinkers would have seen it coming a mile away, and I won't be surprised if they actually did. The twists are not exactly a strong suit.
The ending however had a good, clear and true message, we do not exactly always look for the secrets behind the tricks, because doing that ruins the trick and we won't want to see it anymore, that is exactly why the secrets are a magicians life. Few flaws aside prestige should see, any Nolan fan, Bale or Jackman, movie fans or even people who used to enjoy magic tricks at various shows should watch this great movie, few minor flaws aside, you are in for a great treat. Overall 8/10.