Nearly as flawed as it is amazing

Rating: 6/10 (18 February 2007)

Vastly entertaining period piece, centered around the rivalry between two magicians desperate to one-up each other, could have been one of the greatest mainstream riddlers to come along in some time. Instead, The Prestige tries so desperately to be the mind-melt it is envisioned as that the constant surprises feel suspiciously rote, character motivation feeling surprisingly laughable. Clearly, the Nolan brothers' dense script wished to outdo themselves, perhaps a tad overambitious coming from minds that produced the solid, compelling, deliciously confusing Memento.
Here, crazy turn of events run like clockwork, authenticity comes and goes depending on the scene, and viewers foolishly witness a plot inside a vacuum that does not contrast any sort of real world interaction with the magic-centric scenario. All this makes the enjoyable twists and turns that Christopher Nolan employs throughout the introspective romp feel slightly less impacting then they should have, at times even coming across as laughably ridiculous; which is a shame really, since this original cat and mouse tale still ends up being something quite special.
Banking on heavy replay value through inherent ambiguities that further enhance the mystery's shelf life, there is still an admirable amount of rational explanation to justify the increasingly unbelievable and enjoyable pace that will continue to indulge throwing viewers out of the loop if they do not, as illusionist Alfred Borden insists "pay attention". The brief narration may feel slightly condescending by basking in the art of it's own clever twists, but if someone had to be pretentious about the intricate script they have crafted, I am glad it is these guys. I just wished they would have spent a little more time fine tuning some of the individual scenes, since their ambitions often seemed to exceed a hard pressed wow factor.
Cast-wise, the always hard working Christian Bale seems to be the only one that truly owned his character in the period it was meant to take place. Hugh Jackman usually felt way too modernized, and the A-list supporting cast felt out of place, almost superfluous. Even Michael Caine, one of our oldest and most respected working actors around, here in a role that is written as the glue to hold all of these wild themes together, feels unnecessary and forced most of the time. All in all though, The Prestige is a treat, overcoming the awkward setup to seduce viewers into caring about this most irrelevant of fictitious rivalries with compelling, creative force by the time the stage curtain has lowered.