A thinking man's director - a satisfying film - hard to classify

Rating: 7/10 (18 July 2010)

THE PRESTIGE is a fascinating, satisfying if flawed look at magicians and passion through the lens of a thinking man's director using details of turn of the century history as his palate. Most satisfying if you're up to following the unexpected details, but it must have been frustrating for the releasing studio to try and figure our how to SELL the film when it first came out.
Is it a simple classic costume mystery? (It isn't) Do you give away that there may be science fiction elements? (They didn't - to even hint that there may have been some inspiration in the STAR TREK series and its fictional technology might have been a major spoiler, but without buying into that concept, the film has a serious logistic flaw - and the mere incorporation of references to the period science - heavily extrapolated - of Nicholas Tesla wasn't enough to get the point across for many) Are the great Hugh Jackman or Christian Bale big enough stars to simply sell it as a vehicle? (At that point they weren't) The film didn't find its initial audience and went to DVD all too soon, but it's rightly developing a fair cult now, because it IS a fascinating experience for audiences knowledgeable enough to bring at least some awareness of Nicholas Tesla (the Sci-Si Channel's great series EUREKA has helped a lot on this front), willing to actually pay attention to Nolan's complex story telling which uses the flash-back and flash-forward more effectively than most recent films, willing to take a leap of faith or two and anxious to enjoy the excellent work from a uniformly superb cast and director.
It is all too tempting to see the first shadings of director Nolan's lighter but more complex "thinking man's extravaganza," INCEPTION, in THE PRESTIGE. Both are films which require an audience willing to pay full attention and actually LISTEN, not just lie back and wait for the car crashes and exploding buildings to entertain them. Both are stories which use the pain of lost love to unexpected advantage motivating their core characters. Both are immensely rewarding to those willing to THINK and not just absorb.
In the film and real life "the prestige" is a magician's term for the final reveal which makes a trick pay off. On DVD, THE PRESTIGE is a prestige item serious film buffs will want to savor more than once.