Good stuff!

Rating: 9/10 (11 January 2007)

(DO NOT READ unless you have seen the movie or don't mind having it spoiled!)
The Prestige seems to be one of those rare occasions when the movie is better than the book it's based on. The movie works well, and is very well produced. It's not without flaws, but the central stroke of brilliance is to bring in Nikola Tesla and using his outlandish theories to support the story of a couple of rivaling magicians in their attempt to out-do one another. This is a great idea, and the use of it in this movie is VERY cool. To those who don't know, Tesla both theorized about, and performed, several experiments that have never been reproduced, and so it is a great way to partially suspend disbelief to have some of his wild and mysterious ideas actually work.
The movie falls short in several minor ways, though. For one thing, neither of the main characters are particularly likable. They come across as just that little bit too pathetic, even if they do sacrifice practically everything for their art (or was it for their rivalry?). I felt it would have been better to have one of them (the lower-class one, Bale's character) be more sympathetic than the other, and even end up duplicating himself to sort of recreate his lost twin. But we didn't see that, and instead Bale's character cowardly just shot Jackman's character out of pure spite. Doesn't exactly reflect well on him, does it.
Also - the Tesla machine; in some scenes it teleported Jackman's character, and in others it made copies of him. So, which one was it? Could it be adjusted to do one or the other? Or did it do either at random? This was not explained. And the caged pigeon trick; this was always obscured. What was it supposed to do, exactly? Oh, I can guess (it slammed down flat, seeming to crush the pigeon, which however was speedily pulled out and hidden under the coat), but it couldn't be seen, and this annoyed me as I was watching it. But maybe it was because they couldn't actually do it, and hence not show it.
Still, good and entertaining movie. I could definitely watch it again sometime. 8 out of 10.