This one frustrated me

Rating: 7/10 (30 April 2007)

one of my sister's actually said that it was probably because I love Hugh Jackman so much that I couldn't bear to see him in such an obsessive state but I beg to differ. It was well shot, very imaginative and the actors were at the top of their game, I just really didn't like this film.
The Prestige and The Illusionist both arrived at the box-office within months or maybe even weeks apart from one another and sort of K-Oed each other with their similar look and plot lines. I went to see The Prestige, thinking it would be the better movie because it seemed to have the better cast but I can confirm now that this was not the case. The tale within The Prestige dealt more with obsession, revenge and the darker side of the art of magic whereas The Illusionist dealt with romance, illusions and perhaps sweet revenge or shall I say karma.
Anyways, since I'm reviewing The Prestige let me keep it at that. The film revolves around two rivaling magicians: Robert Angier (played by Hugh Jackman) and Alfred Borden (played by Christian Bale). Upon the suspiciously accidental death Angier's wife Julia (played oddly by Piper Perabo) the tension between the two magicians not only intensifies (seeing how Borden was supposedly the one who tied the knot to the rope that killed Julia) it becomes a flat out tug-of-war. With Angier trying to find answers as to why his wife was killed and with Borden trying to avoid being murdered by his rival.
Scarlett Johansson's Olivia shows up later to play the mediator between the two men but to no apparent avail. With either of the other trying to outdo the other with the latest magic tricks, the competition eventually turns into a fatally dangerous obsession. Michael Caine & David Bowie co-star.