Awesome sleight-of-hand

Rating: 9/10 (31 October 2006)

Magic tricks and cinema share a lot of properties with each other in several ways, the two biggest being the way of leading an audience along towards a surprise and focusing the audience on a distraction while using sleight of hand to conjure up something surprising. They both have a long history in perceptions, demons, and the occult. They're both logical when revealed, and yet despite such revealing audiences are willing to return to see a show over and over and over again.
These days it's no special deal to try and trick the audience... Mr. Shyamalan has decided to permanently affix his career to it. Unfortunately, sometimes the attempt to out-dazzle the audience (and thus sell tickets) leads in a lack of performance from the magicians responsible. In this case, however, everyone throws in their due and we're treated to a stage that's absolutely magical.
I've never previously understood why people put so much stock into Christian Bale--I saw that he was good but I didn't think he was fantastic--until now. I'd say he's the sole reason to go see this movie, if it wasn't for Hugh Jackman's acting. I can't speak of either in terms of actor/supporting actor... there is no difference between their importance, and this movie is so full of doppelgangers you might as well just sit back and be prepared to see double. The two of them are amazing.
Nolan has definitely evolved as a director and shows it here with a much more hidden role. He's definitely the Man behind the Curtain and not self-conscious in his directing, and this film's use of broken chronology is much more structurally sound than Memento and other out-of-order works. In this case, its hardly noticeable--I only realized that I didn't have difficulty following the plot back and forth AFTER I left the theatre.
And the stage in which this movie is set is spectacular as well. The world is enticing with its intrigue and the many obsessive characters; I especially like the side story about Tesla and Edison, one that's only hinted at but that a short research into history of electricity will help reveal more depth to this already double-deep movie. David Bowie as Tesla was an odd choice... I hardly even noticed it was he.
It's a very enjoyable movie and pretty spectacular in its own right.
--PolarisDiB