Nolan Strikes Again

Rating: 10/10 (2 August 2012)

"Are you watching closely?" opens this film about magic, rivalry, betrayal, love and tragedy. I'm not really into movies about magic, but 'The Prestige' to me is really more of a drama about the rivalry between Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) than it is about magic itself.
At the film's start, Borden is on trial for the death of his former friend and rival, Angier who drowned in a water tank upon completing a trick. How did these two become rivals? The first flashback of the film tells the viewer that Borden and Angier were once partners in the business along with Angier's wife, Julia (Piper Perabo) but one tragic night Julia drowns during a performance when she cannot escape her rope bindings. Angier places the blame squarely on Borden and swears to destroy his former friend's life.
Without giving too much more away, the film's tension escalates dramatically as both Jackman and Bale's characters descend further into the treacherous rabbit hole of secrets, lies and betrayal. This leads the viewer to wonder who else will fall victim to the all-consuming obsession of Jackman's Angier in his endless pursuit to ruin Borden.
In the leading roles of Robert Angier and Alfred Borden, Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale couldn't be more different. Jackman is brash, arrogant and narcissistic as Angier while Bale is soft-spoken, more reserved and secretive as Borden. The actors play off each other brilliantly as the magicians wage war for the best in their profession; an unending cat and mouse game that pulls the viewer further into the depths of their heated rivalry. Since we are given the film from both their perspectives, it is almost impossible to know which character to trust for the truth.
Among the film's supporting performances are a heart-wrenching Rebecca Hall as Borden's wife, Sarah, who becomes the final innocent victim in the dangerous web her husband is entangled in, Scarlett Johannson as the duplicitous Olivia Wenscombe, Angier's assistant turned traitor by Borden when Angier dispatches her to learn his rival's secrets, Michael Caine as John Cutter, Angier's ingenuier (one who designs the illusions for a magic show) who warns Jackman's obsessive Angier that his pursuit will only end badly, Andy Serkis (most famous for his motion-capture performances as Gollum in the "Lord of the Rings" series) as Alley, (fictional) assistant to famed scientist, Nikola Tesla and in a mesmerizing cameo as the famed electrical pioneering scientist is the distinguished David Bowie who holds nothing back in his portrayal of Tesla; even adopting a convincing Eastern European accent to cover his native British accent.
The narrative is gripping, full of twists and turns like a magic show, but it never ceases to pull the rug away with the exposure of what is real and what is illusion. We are never certain what really motivates Angier and Borden even when they give their own reasons to other characters (example: Angier tells Olivia that he wants to ruin Borden for damaging his new illusion; not in revenge for Julia's death early in the film). The ultimate climax contains the film's best shocking moments as the web is finally unraveled, but there are still questions left that we'll never get the answer to. But the question is: do we really want to know or do we want to be fooled?