The Prestige

Plot synopsis:
The Prestige begins with shots of several dozen top hats inexplicably strewn about in a forest.Cutter (Michael Caine), in voiceover, explains the three parts of a magic trick while performing a disappearing bird trick for a little girl. Part one is the pledge, where the magician shows you something ordinary, like a bird. Part two is the turn, where he does something extraordinary, like make the bird disappear. But this isn't enough. There always has to be a third act, the prestige, where you have a twist, and bring the bird back. Only then will the audience applaud.Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman), stage name "the Great Danton," attempts a transporting trick that involves walking under a giant electrical machine with a Tesla coil and then disappearing through a trapdoor. Except that he falls straight into a giant tank of water that has been placed under the stage, and is automatically locked inside. A man in the audience, who we shortly learn is fellow magician Alfred Borden (Christian Bale), stage name "the Professor," forces his way beneath the stage in time to see Angier drown.After this introduction, we follow three timelines at once. In the present day (19th century England), Borden is on trial for murdering Angier, who we learn was his greatest rival. Cutter is revealed to be Angier's engineer, the man who builds the machinery for his tricks, and the little girl is Borden's daughter Jess (Samantha Mahurin).Cutter confides to the judge in a private meeting that the machine Angier was using wasn't built by him, but by "a wizard," and it legitimately did what it appeared to do.The trial does not go well for Borden, and he faces execution. Later, in jail, Borden is approached by the solicitor for a collector, Lord Caldlow, who is interested in buying his secrets, particularly the secret of Borden's famous "Transported Man" trick. The same collector has also bought all of Angier's equipment and props. When Borden refuses, the solicitor threatens that Jess is in danger of being declared an indigent orphan and sent to the workhouse unless his patron intervenes. As an incentive, he gives Borden Angier's diary, which documents the time he spent in Colorado trying to learn Bordon's secret.Borden's reading of the diary in prison frames the second part of the narrative, which is from Angier's point of view. Angier is on a train in the Rocky Mountains, headed to Colorado Springs, Colorado, on his way to see the notorious scientist Nikola Tesla (David Bowie). Disembarking at the train station in town, Angier is taken by coach to the inn, where he gets an unusually warm welcome from the hotel staff. The manager tells Angier that he's their first guest of the winter. Angier asks if a ride can be arranged to take him up to Pike's Peak the next day, but is told that the peak is closed for experimentation.The next day, Angier is dropped off on a dirt track in the woods, at the farthest point the carriage can take him. He makes his way up to the fence surrounding a clearing. He is immediately thrown back as the fence is electrified. Tesla's assistant Alley (Andy Serkis) comes out of the gatehouse, thinking at first that Angier is another intruder, then recognizes him, saying he's seen Angier's London show. Angier says he's come to ask Tesla to build him a machine like one that he believes Tesla built for Borden -- the machine that allows Borden to do the "Transported Man" trick. Alley says he can't help Angier, and Angier heads back to the hotel, disappointed. Alley takes satisfaction when Angier, back turned to him, correctly guesses that Alley is holding a gold watch in his hand.Angier sits down in his room and begins decoding a diary he stole from Borden, which is encrypted with a particular five-letter-word passcode (important later).Borden's diary frames the third thread of the narrative, which goes back to the very beginning.Angier and Borden are partners, up-and-comers working for an elderly magician named Milton (Ricky Jay). Milton also employs Cutter and Angier's wife Julia (Piper Perabo). Their best trick is an underwater escape act. In this act, Angier and Borden are planted in the audience and called up to the stage to tie Julia's wrists and ankles before she is hoisted up on a pulley and dropped into a water tank. A curtain descends on the tank, and Julia slips the knot around her wrists and escapes using a trick lock on the tank. As a safety precaution, Cutter is positioned stage right, behind the curtains, with a stopwatch and an axe.Angier and Borden are on friendly terms, though Angier is somewhat concerned that Borden might be using a knot that is more difficult for Julia to slip. We learn that Angier is using an alias so he won't embarrass his prominent family with his theatrical pursuits, while Borden and his engineer Fallon come from a rougher background. Borden is much more ambitious than Angier, isn't afraid to do dirtier tricks, and wishes Milton would try more dangerous tricks, like a bullet catch. Borden claims to have created a trick that will be his masterpiece.One day, Cutter sends Angier and Borden to watch a Chinese magician, Chung Ling Soo (Chao Li Chi), and figure out exactly how the man makes a heavy goldfish bowl (filled with water and goldfish) appear from under a cloth. Borden immediately deduces that the old magician is really putting up a front: he's holding the bowl between his legs under his skirt, hiding the strength required to accomplish the trick by always appearing frail in public. Borden admires the way the Chinese magician goes to such an extreme that he "lives" his performance at home. Angier is surprised, since when he tries holding an empty goldfish bowl at home, he has a hard time carrying it.As his prize for working out the fishbowl trick, Borden gets a few minutes onstage assisting Milton during a performance, where he performs a trick where a bird and cage disappear simultaneously, and then the bird reappears. A boy in the audience becomes upset when he realizes the bird in the cage isn't the same as the one that reappears. Borden tries to help the boy's aunt, a woman named Sarah (Rebecca Hall), to console him. After the show, we discover that the bird in the cage has to die to achieve the illusion, as Borden is seen tossing the original bird in the trash. Borden and Sarah strike up an acquaintance and become romantically involved.Disaster strikes during the next performance of the underwater escape. Borden ties, stops, and then reties the knot around Julia's hands as they prepare to put her on the hoist. She can't manage to slip the knot underwater, and Cutter isn't able to break the glass of the tank in time to save her. Julia dies onstage, leaving Angier devastated and Milton ruined. During the funeral, Angier confronts Borden, asking which knot he tied. His answer is that he "doesn't know," which Angier cannot accept. This is the beginning of their bitter rivalry.Borden and Angier both strike out on their own, but there are obvious tensions. Borden marries Sarah and starts doing his own act, the climax of which is a bullet-catching trick. The secret, as Borden explains to his pregnant wife, is that the bullet is palmed, so that it's already in the magician's hand when the gun is fired. All that comes out of the pistol is gunpowder. But magicians have died during the trick because of audience members sticking buttons or their own bullets into the guns.Borden is next seen performing for a very rowdy audience. After whipping out the gun to silence the audience, he asks for volunteers, then hands the gun to a man who is actually a disguised Angier. Angier, knowing the trick, deliberately puts his own bullet into the gun, and confronts Borden again about the knot he tied. When Borden's answer is still "I don't know," Angier shoots him, blowing the ends of two fingers off his left hand and jeopardizing Borden's career. Sarah encourages him to quit magic. She isn't happy that Borden keeps secrets from her as part of his trade. Their marriage is an uneven one, and she claims that when he says that he loves her, she can tell on some days he doesn't mean it. Borden admits this is true and they make a sad little game of it: some days he loves her, some days he loves the magic.One day at a bar, Angier is approached by Cutter, whom no one will hire because of his association with Milton. They start their own act, with Angier performing as "the Great Danton" (a name suggested by his late wife and rejected at the time for being "too French"). His lovely assistant is a blonde bombshell named Olivia Wenscombe (Scarlett Johansson). Because Angier doesn't want to get dirty, Cutter comes up with a new version of the "disappearing-bird-in-the-cage" trick where members of the audience keep their hands on the cage as it disappears. The trick involves mechanical gadgetry that Angier wears under his suit to fold away and retract the cage. Best of all, the bird is unharmed.Angier debuts the trick at his show. The audience is negative at first, complaining that they've seen the trick numerous times, but Angier says he'll make it a bit harder. He asks for two volunteers to come up from the audience. Two are selected: an elderly woman and a man who is actually a disguised Borden. Although Angier recognizes Borden the moment he puts his hand on the cage, he is unable to stop Borden from jamming the machinery. The cage malfunctions, causing the bird to be killed onstage and the other volunteer's hand to be caught. The theater owner cancels Angier's booking and Angier's reputation is left in tatters.Cutter sends Angier to a science lecture to get some new ideas. Nicola Tesla is preparing to demonstrate several huge, fantastic Tesla coils, generating immense electric charges that seem to fill the room. Because of the perceived danger, the demonstration is canceled by the authorities. But Angier spots Borden in the crowd and follows him, learning about Sarah and their new baby, Jessica. Fed by jealousy of Borden's happiness, which Angier feels should have been his, Angier's obsession over the rivalry grows.Intercut with this storyline are Angier's attempts to meet with Tesla and commission his own transporter machine. Tesla has supplied all of Colorado Springs with electrical service in exchange for being allowed full use of the generators at night (when the residents are sleeping) to conduct experiments. He's even rigged up his own electric fence. When Tesla finally agrees to build the machine for Angier, he warns that it will take a great deal of time and money.In Borden's diary, we learn that both magicians start performing again. Borden, as "the Professor," has a dramatic new trick called the Transported Man that has been getting him attention. Angier and Olivia, who is falling in love with her magician, watch it repeatedly and are unable to tell how he does it. The trick appears amazingly simple: Borden gets into a cabinet on stage right and gets out of another cabinet on stage left. Cutter insists that he must be using a double, but Olivia insists that she can see the bandaged stumps on his left hand both when Borden disappears and when he reappears, even though Borden wears padded gloves to hide his short fingers.Angier and Cutter copy the trick and add the bit of showmanship and flair that Borden's version is missing. In his version, Angier throws his hat across the stage and walks through a door on one side of the stage, secretly drops through a trapdoor hidden behind the door frame onto a padded cushion, while a double simultaneously is hoisted out of another trapdoor behind the door on the other side of the stage to catch the hat. They hire an out-of-work actor named Gerald Root (also played by Hugh Jackman) to be Angier's double. He's a drunk and a lout, but he can perform.Their act, dubbed "the New Transported Man," is an amazing success. But there's one small drawback: Angier has to be the one who sells the buildup of the trick, so he's always under the stage during the prestige and misses out on the audience reaction. Root is getting all the glory, even if Cutter makes sure that he keeps a low profile so the secret doesn't get out. Even worse, Angier still doesn't know how Borden does his version of the trick.Angier decides to send Olivia to work for Borden and spy on him to get the secret. Olivia, who is in love with him, doesn't like the idea, but does as Angier asks and becomes Borden's assistant. To gain his trust, she tells Borden how Angier's trick is done and offers to help him improve on his own act.Meanwhile, a big problem develops -- with Root, of course. Root realizes that he can control Angier because he's necessary for Angier's biggest trick, and demands money. It turns out that Borden has been influencing him, and Cutter thinks Olivia may have betrayed them. Borden's version of the "Transported Man" has improved, and now includes one of Tesla's electricity-generating machines. Cutter gets Angier to agree to phase out the trick.Root's performances get more intentionally sloppy, and one night he simply isn't there at all. When Angier goes through the trapdoor, the cushion to break his fall has been removed, and he breaks his leg. He watches Borden pop out of Root's trapdoor and proceed to humiliate him, suspending a tied-up Root from the ceiling with an advertisement for Borden's own act, before running out of the theater to his own show.Angier confronts Olivia, who insists that Borden's trick is accomplished using a double, because she's seen makeup and wigs lying around. He deduces that such items are planted by Borden as misdirection for her. When he questions her loyalty, she produces Borden's encrypted diary as proof that she didn't betray him. However, the five-letter-word to decrypt the diary is still necessary. Angier and Cutter kidnap Fallon, Borden's engineer, and nail him in a box to hold for ransom.When Borden comes to the meeting place in a cemetery to get Fallon back, Angier demands to know the secret of Borden's "Transported Man" in exchange. Borden writes down one word, "Tesla," which will decode the diary, and suggests that he's teleporting using a machine Tesla built. Borden is then told that Fallon has been buried alive, and Angier asks him how fast he can dig.Angier leaves for America to track down Tesla, for the second section of the narrative, while Cutter stays behind. He was shot by Fallon in the shoulder while nailing the box up, and doesn't want to pursue the secret of the trick any further. Tesla refuses to meet with Angier, and the latter learns that Tesla has run out of funding and is being hounded by his rival, Thomas Edison. Angier assures Tesla that money is no object and Tesla tells him in turn that the machine is already being built.Borden's private life starts falling apart. He's having an affair with Olivia, and his wife is drinking because of their deteriorating marriage. At one point, he instructs Fallon to deal with his family while going to see Olivia. He appears to genuinely care for both women.Sarah eventually hangs herself in Borden's workroom, after trying to confront her husband about one of his secrets.In Colorado, Tesla and Alley have been unsuccessfully testing the machine they built for Angier. They've zapped his top hat time after time with an impressive electrical apparatus, but the hat won't move an inch.Angier comes to the end of Borden's diary and realizes that Olivia actually did betray him. She was in love with Angier, but since he used her as a spy without concern for her feelings, she knew she didn't have a future with him. She gave Angier the diary to prove her loyalty to Borden, who wrote it for Angier. The last entry in the diary tells him that "Tesla" was the keyword to decrypt the writing, which is true, but it's not the secret to the trick at all. Tesla never built a teleportation machine for Borden, and Angier has been sent on a wild goose chase.He goes back to Tesla's lab several times, where the scientist insists that he is capable of building a teleporter, but he never built one for Borden. He tests the machine again, this time using Alley's precious black cat. Alley warns Tesla not to harm the cat. Alley, using the cat's beautiful collar, chains the cat to the spot for the experiment, as Tesla thinks it may be a matter of needing something living. The cat does not like the procedure and hisses, but is completely unharmed. However, the cat doesn't move at all, so Angier leaves in disgust. Then the cat is freed and runs out the front door.As Angier walks back through the woods, we revisit the first shot of the movie: a heap of top hats on the forest floor. And this time, there are two identical (proved by the collar) black cats among them. The machine has been working all along, but instead of moving an object from one place to the other, it creates a duplicate at the destination. Tesla and Alley are amazed, moving from hat to hat and measuring them with calipers. When Angier leaves, Tesla tells him to take his hat. He asks which hat is his and Tesla, smiling for the first time, says "They are all your hat."Tesla and Alley continue to refine the machine now that they know how it works. They have to leave suddenly in the middle of the night when their lab is burned down by Edison's goons. However, in the care of the hotel manager, Tesla leaves a large, trapezoidal wooden box for Angier, containing the components of the machine with instructions in a note. Tesla's note cautions Angier that using the machine is inviting Angier's doom and warns him to destroy the machine rather than use it.Angier takes the box back to England and reunites with Cutter. He's ready to perform again, but this time he's extremely secretive about his methods, hiring blind stage hands and not allowing Cutter backstage at any time. As he demonstrates to an influential promoter, he is zapped with electricity from the machine's Tesla coil, disappears from plain sight, and then reappears up in the balcony, appearing to traverse the distance instantaneously.The show is a hit and Borden is mystified. All he can tell is that Angier's trick involves a trapdoor, but he has no idea what's going on under the stage. Every night, he can see the blind stagehands removing a box from the theater.A few nights later, at another performance, Borden sneaks under the stage, as we saw in the prologue, and watches Angier fall through the trapdoor into the tank and drown. It's clear that Borden didn't have anything to do with it, and he actually tries to save his rival's life by attempting to break through the glass of the tank with a pipe. Cutter runs down under the stage and gets the wrong idea. Borden is arrested. Angier is confirmed dead with Cutter identifying the body.In his prison cell back in the present day, Borden comes to the end of Angier's diary, which gloats that Borden is being blamed for his death. Borden believes the diary must be a fake, until he's called out of his cell to say goodbye to Jess and meet the collector who wants to buy his secrets.The collector, Lord Caldlow, is Angier. Borden is dismayed that he would go so far and involve his child in their rivalry. Caldlow/Angier refuses to help clear his name, and won't even take the secret of Borden's "Transported Man" when bribed, telling him "mine is better." Borden swears he'll get out and have his revenge, promising Jess he'll come for her.Cutter discovers Angier alive when he calls on Lord Caldlow to offer him the machine, hoping to convince him to destroy it. Cutter quickly realizes that Angier is remorseless about framing Borden. He says he's figured out the secret to Angier's version of "the Transported Man" and thinks he's gone too far.Borden has one last visitor: Fallon. Borden tells him what he's learned, gives him the rubber ball he sometimes uses for tricks, and tells Fallon to go "live for both of us."Cutter brings the machine to Angier, and as he leaves, we see Fallon arrive to confront Angier. This is intercut with scenes of Borden being hanged. Borden dies just as Fallon shoots Angier. The camera pans up to reveal that "Fallon" has two missing fingers and Borden's face.Angier finally realizes that the secret of Borden's "Transported Man" was simple: Borden had a twin brother, and they were switching back and forth between the double roles of Borden and Fallon. One of them loved Sarah, and one of them loved Olivia. They both lived half of the same life, never telling anyone in order to maintain the illusion. In a flashback, it is shown that the unmutilated twin willingly let his brother amputate the ring and pinkie fingers on his left hand so that they could make the swaps without anyone telling the difference. Sarah, in a scene we've seen before, is puzzled and worried as to why the wound looks new and bruised again; Borden distracts her by slamming a fist down and saying they can't afford a doctor.Angier, who only ever cared about the glory of wowing an audience, went to far more terrible extremes. In his "New Transported Man," he knowingly created a double of himself every time he used Tesla's machine, and he rigged the trapdoor to drown the one onstage. He never knew if he would be the prestige or the man in the box. The room where the machine is being kept is filled with water tanks, all of which hold a drowned double of Angier for every time he performed the trick. Several times, he mutters to himself a line we've heard before in a different context: "No one cares about the man in the box."Angier falls and kicks over the lantern as he dies from his wound, and the resulting fire ensures the machine and all the evidence are destroyed.We loop back to the trick with the small birds in the opening scene (though this time, no birds are harmed) while Cutter reiterates the three parts of a magic trick. As Cutter has told Jess Borden, "before the audience can clap, you have to make the disappeared man come back." On cue, her father appears to reclaim her. She runs into his arms, and Borden and Cutter exchange nods.

Tags: dark, mystery, fantasy, murder, suspenseful, psychological, atmospheric, flashback, philosophical, romantic, tragedy, revenge, entertaining, storytelling, sci-fi

Review:
The Prestige only helps solidify his standing as one of the landmark directors of his generation.Told in a narrative that jumps between various points along its time line, playing out like a magic act itself, the story is that of two magicians on the rise in their careers.
With narration by several characters, each adding their own viewpoint to the events, and with a direction that moves between time to mystify and distract, the end result is a climax that itself is a series of puzzles that each unravel beautifully.The only major criticisms that can be leveled at the Prestige are a confusing play with the seasons during Tesla's introduction (winter suddenly becomes spring/summer and back again) and a strange choice of music for the closing credits (a pop song at the end of a film such as this seems tacky).
Teaming up again with his Batman Begins cast of Christian Bale and  Michael Caine, and joined with the Scoop team consisting of X-Men's  Wolverinie Hugh Jackman and Scarlett Johansson, the stellar (eye candy)  cast already set tongues wagging as to whether they'll be able to live  up to the hype of Nolan's long awaited movie directly challenging the  other picture about Victorian magicians, The Illusionist.
The way the movie plays out, it's like a huge  magic trick, with the audience waiting to see how it unfolds, getting  the suspicion on how it's done, but yet sitting through it thorough  engaged to discover how everything will be revealed and resolved.
And Michael Caine took on this engineering role as Cutter, responsible  for assisting Rupert Angier (Hugh Jackman) with loyalty and conviction  that they could, as a team, beat Christian Bale's Alfred Borden.
I went to see a critics preview of The Prestige this afternoon and to  my surprise I found the film to be one of the best I have seen all year  so far, and that writers can come up with an excellent script it they  would only try a little harder.
The acting performances by Hugh  Jackman, Christian Bale and Michael Caine were the best I have see in  a long while.
With his remarkably sleight-of-hand direction, he spins the tale of two rivaling magicians in Victorian-era London, creating a cerebrally stimulating 2 hour long mise-en-scene in which the audience is literally left guessing and gasping at its rare uniqueness through magic acts and bitter behind-the-stage intrigue.The final pay-off of any magic act  the prestige  is of the essence, and preluding it is the pledge, followed by the turn.
The pledge introduces our main characters: magicians Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) and Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) in turn-of-the-century London and we see how their friendship abruptly becomes a fully-fledged rivalry and hostility with a magic act gone horribly wrong in front of an audience.
If you are shaking your head thinking a clever twist ending does not make the movie (and I agree), know that this is not a "gotcha"-kind of Shyamalan trick where you want to stop the film, rewind it and watch it meticulous foreshadowing up to the cheap pay-off, but a tightly-written ever-shifting hall of mirrors with so many intrinsic twists that on your way home you will still be scratching you head and searching for clues.Our two magicians are perfectly-cast with Hugh Jackman capturing the showy, slick, ambition-driven nature of his character Angier in contrast to Bale's technique-driven purist who may be well on his way to perfecting the craft, but lacks the 'Abracadabra' entertainment value.
antagonist positions, and indeed they are given almost the exact same screen-time and voice-over narration throughout, a subtle and brilliant accolade of Nolan's.To further evaluate the cast of The Prestige, David Bowie and Michael Caine undoubtedly merit a great deal of praise for supporting the two moody, unlikeable leading men.
This he should be fully entitled to do as a director, for a beautiful diversion will always camouflage the process and any of its potential missteps, as Michael Caine's character puts forward.With Scarlett as a pleasurable paint-job, twists by the bucket-load and flashy magic tricks as windowdressing to a solid mystery film, there is little or no need to delve deeper into the psyches of its characters to keep our attention.
What makes this movie so incredible is that while it is indeed a movie about magicians (or illusionists) it is also a complex character study about how self destructive obsessions are with a sideline love story and a sci-fi twist.
Without having to resort to spoilers, let me just say the story is extremely interesting, the acting very good, the period pieces fun to view and it's a pretty clean movie so grandma can also enjoy it, too, without language or sex concerns.Basically, it's a story about obsession between two magicians in the last decade of the 19th century.
Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale are both fun to watch in those roles, as are Michael Caine and Scarlett Johansson in supporting roles.This is one movie guaranteed to have you thinking about it when it's over!.
Even though some of the twists seem unnecessary, I thought many were brilliant and I kept trying to will myself to care about it, to care about them, but I didn't.It was a very good film in a detached sort of "viewing art" way but as far as feeling "wow"'d by the end, not so much..
but I guess that is really beside the point.Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman play two young British magicians - Alfred Borden and Robert Angier - trying to learn the tricks of the trade, somewhat even allied at first.
If you think this film is mediocre or just a "period piece" then you have to think again because the true depth of this plot cannot be realized without watching repeatedly.I have watched it through several times and still can't tell if the Michael Caine character was the true mastermind.This screenplay could play in any time or place, even with unknown actors, and still generate eternal wonder.Too many directors rely on gratuitous violence, expensive action sequences, big name actors and grandiose sets/CGI to wow the viewers Christopher Nolan is an unmitigated genius and doesn't need any of those tricks..
There are many twists and turns to the plot, which will make you say, "How did I not catch that?" There is a quote in the movie that is used frequently, "Are you watching closely?" You need to be paying close attention in order to catch all of the various twists throughout the film.Besides all of the various twists, the acting was also fantastic.
This enjoyable and fresh story about intense rivalry among magicians is set in turn-of-the last century, London.Robert Angier(Hugh Jackman) his wife Julie McCullough(Piper Perabo) and Alfred Borden(admirable Christian Bale) are friends and magician's assistants.
They battle each other for their magic tricks and Robert attempts disclose the secret about disappearance from his contender with fateful results.This splendid movie is stunning in many aspects and blends appropriately various genres: the lush romantic period piece during nineteenth century Victorian Era, mystery thriller and fantasy.The picture gets it all : suspense, mystery drama, star crossed lovers,plot twists, murders,tragedy and supernatural illusions .
In the end of the Nineteenth Century, in London, Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman), his beloved wife Julia McCullough (Piper Perabo) and Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) are friends and assistants of a magician.
This is a good movie as a whole but I feel that Nolan overdid it on the plot twists this time.
It has great acting from Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale, great cinematography and lighting, and most of the film up to the end is thoroughly entertaining.
What follows is a tale of both men finding a means of one-upping each other at every turn, whether it be physically sabotaging the other person's act, using the sexy assistant Olivia (Johansson) to help get secret information, or gaining help from the even more secretive "wizard" Nikola Tesla (David Bowie, in a rare film appearance).The thing about the film is that you have to pay attention at all times.
The movie does not mention about the descendants of the Magicians at all.Hugh Jackman's and Christian Bale's acting are amazing.
On an even more annoyed note: Bowie was unrecognizable, Johanssen reduced to the human equivalent of a tittybar and Sir Cain to be honest, failed to impress but may have done this on purpose as a lesson learned from his literally outstanding performance in Children of Men. Another highly overrated film from 2006 in which his performance painfully made the acting of practically anyone else a complete joke.The cinematography in Prestige, though suiting the story and time in which it was set, was relentlessly dark which really was eye-candy but on the other hand didn't help the many plodding and derivative scenes.The only thing that made the movie endurable was the fine female company I was with, which provided the necessary distraction which made me miss some key-scenes which offered a bit of challenge to work it all out.I guess Nolan just isn't my kind of storyteller and his rather one-tracked stories not my cup of tea.4/10.
Intelligent, witty, excellently shot (a superb mix of breathtaking pans and establishing shots and very involving hand-held/steadi shots), with the finest actor of a generation (Caine) and very likely his successor (Bale).No spoilers here, as unlike Memento,The Prestige's tricks can be worked out before they are revealed, and audiences will have great fun doing so.
This is a tale of rival Victorian magicians, whose obsessions lead each into darker and darker places as Jackman's Angier seeks revenge for the death of his wife, and Bale's Borden looks to prove himself the better of the two magicians.
Even without the mystery, twists and turns, this story is an excellent character study, something that carries the picture and at times supersedes the mystery and science fiction elements of the plot.Like Memento, it has a non-linear narrative, though not such an extreme one...the narrative is played out in three stages, like the magic tricks within it - first the pledge, then the turn, finally the prestige.
this has has to one the best movies ever if not the best..Christopher Nolan is a genius..there is no flaw in the movie..the direction is excellent..Christian bale and Hugh Jackman have put in Oscar winning performances..the plot is mind blowing..
the movie is centered around two magicians with a contrast idea of what magic is and the two are driven by intense rivalry towards each other..each tries to outdo the other and even try to sabotage each others performance..in the end one becomes obsessed to learn the secret of the other's trick and he is willing to risk everything to obtain it..
A lot of words come to mind upon seeing this again, and amongst them are "brilliant," "devastating," "masterful" and "diabolical." The Prestige, for those so shamefully uninitiated, is a pretty much completely perfect film, taking the viewer down a dark, twisted road of revenge, lies and deceit as two former friends destroy each other.There isn't a whole lot wrong with this, and when I said back in March that The Illusionist was better than this, I must not have remember just how good this was.
Of course, they started out as partners, but soon became enemies, each trying to out do each other and to discover the other magician's secrets.Cleverly written by Nolan and his frequent collaborator, his brother Jonathan Nolan - and based on the novel by Christopher Priest, THE PRESTIGE will keep you guessing throughout, trying to figure out "how they did it" and are constantly being surprised by double turns, back stabbing and second guessing.Bale, by this time in his career, has established himself as a powerful actor - and he shines here.
Christopher Nolan's The Prestige tells the story of two rival magicians, Borden (Bale) and Angier (Jackman).
From start to finish you are fixated and deprived of attachment to the world around you much like Borden and Angier as you too do not want to miss any of the films trickery.One of the best things I like about The Prestige is how it deceives the viewer just as a magician would to their own audience.
The story of two rival magicians with a tragic history linking them, trying to outshine one another and the mysteries surrounding makes the premise of a magical two hour narrative.There ARE holes in this movie and the story is not as compact as some other Nolan films; having a few weak moments.
But this is where the genius of Nolan comes in - he makes it work completely, despite those problems - which is why I rate this movie as one of his best directed films.This film doesn't have the heavy-handedness of 'Inception' (which is overrated IMO), isn't too clever for its own good (again, like 'Inception' and 'Memento' to an extend though I think the latter is Nolan's strongest in terms of sheer narrative brilliance)or the slightly impersonal feel of 'Insomnia' (a great film nonetheless; an underrated Nolan film I think).
Hugh Jackman plays one of the magicians, Robert Angier, and Christian Bale was cast as his competitor, Alfred Borden.
It is also cold, without feelings, thus leaving the spectator indifferent to the proceedings or the final outcome.Subsequently, it doesn't matter any more that the movie is well crafted, in some instances well acted (especially Michael Caine), none of these things can change the viewers' overall sensation of disappointment in watching this film.
"The Prestige" has everything a film need to be great: two lead actors named Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale, for the first time together, a supporting cast including Micheal Caine and Scarlett Johansonn - I felt Johansonn was kind of useless here, though - and the direction of acclaimed Christopher Nolan.
However, upon seeing it, I am definitely glad he did because The Prestige is one of the most enjoyable films from 2006 I've seen: a twisty turny epic about two rival magicians in Victorian era London trying to out do each other with more twists than a contortionists convention.The story revolves around two men: Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Christian Bale), former friends turned bitter enemies after a tragic accident during one of their shows.
"I need to know his secret." "Why?" "So I can do it better."By the end, it is difficult to tell who you are supposed to be rooting for, because both main characters aren't exactly good guys, and I think this makes the film very unique.
Hugh Jackman stars as Angier and Christian Bale plays Borden who also worked with Nolan on Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.
From the twists and turns to the superb acting The Prestige is an entertaining thriller that is sure to please anyone looking for a good film to watch..
Despite the similarities and the release timing, this movie is very different from "The Illusionist" in that it is more of a character study into very obsessive individuals as well as an adventurous, exciting and intriguing example of what film-makers can achieve if they really try.The performances are outstanding, the storyline complex enough to keep you guessing till the end.
This leads to a fierce rivalry between the two magicians, and after each one sabotages the others' magic show; the rivalry takes a new turn as they battle to see who can carry out the greatest magic trick...The plot doesn't develop linearly, rather Christopher Nolan chops and changes the exact point in the story where the film is running from, and this works really well as everything always feels fresh and inventive and Christopher Nolan is clearly a director capable of handling this sort of feat.
Hugh Jackman is good also and he gets to show more of himself than he did in the X-Men films, while the likes of Michael Caine and David Bowie fill out the supporting cast.
acting is good too and the late 19th century setting is detailed and intriguing...While undoubtedly entertaining "the prestige" gives you a chance to think about the endless conflict between lies and truth or fiction and reality, stage roles and real life managing at the same time not to judge the characters and leaving to the audience the freedom to decide where good and evil (if any) stand...a "must see" for everyone, thought it would be wise to note that during the movie appear a few scenes that while not truly violent might be quite upsetting for a young public....
It's an easy step to accept that such unwavering determination spills over into deadly territory, as rival magicians suave Rupert Angier (a riveting performance by Hugh Jackman) and audacious Alfred Borden (Christian Bale effortlessly playing a brooding lower-class Brit) each seek to wreak continuing revenge upon the other.The story, though adapted from a novel, feels like a perfect fit for director Nolan's sensibilities, as the machinations of the two men become increasingly convoluted during a back-and-forth tug of wits that keeps you guessing in the style of Nolan's "Memento." As the game grows increasingly deadly, and threatens to consume all they love, the film becomes a fascinating study in single-mindedness.The work is epic in sweep, beautifully filmed, and strongly acted.
There are deeper layers of this film that will be uncovered over time.Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale and Sir Michael Caine all contributed stunning, emotional performances.
Christopher Nolan's "The Prestige" is a very good looking movie and is very well acted.
I won't elaborate more on the plot than this, as it will be more amazing to see it without knowing anything about it.Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale play off each other perfectly and the period setting of the movie is beautiful.
Every actor performs amazingly and this was a film which I loved as the plot takes so many beautiful turns and twists, all done in a believable way (except, Tesla's machine, which won't give a shock to humans).