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#537 - The Prestige
Christopher Nolan, 2006
A pair of magicians become rivals who constantly try to outdo one another, with their focus being on trying to master the same illusion.
Of all the Nolan films I have seen, The Prestige wasn't necessarily the worst but it was one that I didn't expect to hold up all that well on a re-watch. Much like an actual magic trick, the film builds off increasingly fantastic and unexpected reveals to create an entrancing initial experience, which only led me to assume that it would also end up feeling less impressive watching it again and knowing how it was done. Though there is no denying that it loses a little something on a second viewing, The Prestige certainly doesn't feel like an excessively weak movie. The film begins with one magician (Christian Bale) being accused of murdering his long-time rival (Hugh Jackman) by sabotaging his illusion, leading to him being sentenced. From there, the film proceeds to jump around a bit thanks to both leads reading one another's journals in a move that is easier to follow than it sounds, tracing their origins as ambitious assistants to a famous magician. When a mistake on Bale's part results in the death of Jackman's wife (Piper Perabo), Jackman swears revenge by intending to become the best magician ever and ruin Bale by any means necessary, which naturally prompts Bale to retaliate in turn. Thus begins one morally grey cold war as both men work to one-up each other by any means necessary, while various other individuals such as Jackman's mentor (Michael Caine), Bale's wife (Rebecca Hall), and the young ingenue (Scarlett Johansson) who ends up becoming the pawn of both leads.
The Prestige is a generally decent film that has a fairly interesting visual style (just look at that header image) and offers a storyline that's still solid enough even when it supplements its Spy vs. Spy conflict with certain third-act developments. Bale and Jackman make for sufficiently conflicted, motivated, and well-acted protagonists - Bale may be the better performer here yet he doesn't get quite as much to work with as Jackman. They have some decent support - Caine is dependable as always, while Hall and Johansson do rather well with characters that could have been annoying props. Even a surprise performance by David Bowie as none other than renowned inventor Nikola Tesla feels at home here (to say nothing of Andy Serkis as his assistant). It explores themes of obsession and identity crisis as Bale and Jackman threaten to lose themselves in their battle for supremacy, though a second viewing doesn't reveal that much more depth to this exploration and still drags occasionally due to its somewhat repetitive structure. As a result, I still think The Prestige is more good than bad but its strengths aren't strong enough for me to consider this a genuinely great film. Some nice visuals and a twisty plot that doesn't fall apart the second time around are decent qualities, but that's not enough to make it a wholly enjoyable film for me.
Christopher Nolan, 2006
A pair of magicians become rivals who constantly try to outdo one another, with their focus being on trying to master the same illusion.
Of all the Nolan films I have seen, The Prestige wasn't necessarily the worst but it was one that I didn't expect to hold up all that well on a re-watch. Much like an actual magic trick, the film builds off increasingly fantastic and unexpected reveals to create an entrancing initial experience, which only led me to assume that it would also end up feeling less impressive watching it again and knowing how it was done. Though there is no denying that it loses a little something on a second viewing, The Prestige certainly doesn't feel like an excessively weak movie. The film begins with one magician (Christian Bale) being accused of murdering his long-time rival (Hugh Jackman) by sabotaging his illusion, leading to him being sentenced. From there, the film proceeds to jump around a bit thanks to both leads reading one another's journals in a move that is easier to follow than it sounds, tracing their origins as ambitious assistants to a famous magician. When a mistake on Bale's part results in the death of Jackman's wife (Piper Perabo), Jackman swears revenge by intending to become the best magician ever and ruin Bale by any means necessary, which naturally prompts Bale to retaliate in turn. Thus begins one morally grey cold war as both men work to one-up each other by any means necessary, while various other individuals such as Jackman's mentor (Michael Caine), Bale's wife (Rebecca Hall), and the young ingenue (Scarlett Johansson) who ends up becoming the pawn of both leads.
The Prestige is a generally decent film that has a fairly interesting visual style (just look at that header image) and offers a storyline that's still solid enough even when it supplements its Spy vs. Spy conflict with certain third-act developments. Bale and Jackman make for sufficiently conflicted, motivated, and well-acted protagonists - Bale may be the better performer here yet he doesn't get quite as much to work with as Jackman. They have some decent support - Caine is dependable as always, while Hall and Johansson do rather well with characters that could have been annoying props. Even a surprise performance by David Bowie as none other than renowned inventor Nikola Tesla feels at home here (to say nothing of Andy Serkis as his assistant). It explores themes of obsession and identity crisis as Bale and Jackman threaten to lose themselves in their battle for supremacy, though a second viewing doesn't reveal that much more depth to this exploration and still drags occasionally due to its somewhat repetitive structure. As a result, I still think The Prestige is more good than bad but its strengths aren't strong enough for me to consider this a genuinely great film. Some nice visuals and a twisty plot that doesn't fall apart the second time around are decent qualities, but that's not enough to make it a wholly enjoyable film for me.