Lacks substance, but is so much fun you won't care too much

Rating: 8/10 (23 October 2006)

Not as good as Memento or Nolan's first film, Following, but thankfully much better than last summer's Batman Begins (never saw Insomnia). Nolan goes back to the mystery / suspense genre with this tale of two rival magicians (Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale) who compete with each other, sometimes viciously. The film lives on its twists and turns, so it's not a good idea to spoil any of the plot. I thought the movie was pretty entertaining. It's always fun, and I always was eager to see what came next. The twists and secrets are generally pretty good, though one of the story's biggest secrets becomes painfully obvious too early on. I think most of the audience will begin to recognize Nolan's very obvious attempt at sleight of hand whenever a particular character's face is on camera for more than a handful of frames. That doesn't harm the entertainment value too much. What I would have liked, and what I think would have made the film much more memorable, is a bit more emotional involvement. The characters are universally two-dimensional here. They're all just a cipher for the plot. The movie had absolutely no thematic complexity, either. Neither one of these things that it lacks is particularly far from its grasp. And without complex characters or themes, the film is just a "Wow, this is cool!" rather than a "What is it that I just experienced?" I know that, to so many in the IMDb community, that's the same thing, but it really isn't. I do think Nolan succeeded at finding depth with Memento, but he certainly hasn't here. Still, I'm satisfied with it just being a cool popcorn movie.