The Prestige

Rating: 9/10 (28 January 2014)

The film has a pace to it which is satisfying and enjoyable, and it is fast to take off. The complexities of the story are involved from the word go; as the film begins at a stage just moments from the conclusion, when characters have already been defined, and the plot fully explored. It then progresses to the past, and, narrated partially by a friend of the two magicians (Caine), the story of how the men came to be where they have just been shown to have ended up is told. Already, you have been privy to scenes which are, though not entirely understood by you (as the lead-up to these scenes has not yet been viewed); they are still pleasantly electric and exciting. As you start to see more of the past, and to know the characters and their stories, you begin to feel anxious for the future of these people, watching with the fervent hope that all will turn out as it should, but knowing from what you have already seen that this is not so. You are, in this way, captured by the story from the moment it begins - caught up in the suspense of a semi-revealed outcome and the lives and feelings of a multitude of characters. Such interlocking of the story continues throughout the entire film, as flashes of the present are coupled with those of the past, and the truth can only be yearned for.