The Prestige

Average customer rating: 4.0

Bizarre...
Great ending
The flaws of heroes
Innovative mystery will thrill
One Twist, One Trick, One Prestige Too Many

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The Prestige
Starring: Hugh Jackman , Christian Bale , Michael Caine , Piper Perabo , and Rebecca Hall
Director: Christopher Nolan
Manufacturer: Buena Vista Home Entertainment / Touchstone
Product Group: DVD
Binding: DVD
ASIN: B000LC55F2
2007-02-20

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The Prestige attempts a hat trick by combining a ridiculously good-looking cast, a highly regarded new director, and more than one sleight of hand. Does it pull it off? Sort of. Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman play rival magicians who were once friends before an on-stage tragedy drove a wedge between them. While Bale's Alfred Borden is a more skilled illusionist, Jackman's Rufus Angier is the better showman; much of the film's interesting first half is their attempts to sabotage--and simultaneously, top--each other's tricks. Even with the help of a prop inventor (Michael Caine) and a comely assistant (Scarlett Johansson), Angier can't match Borden's ultimate illusion: The Transporting Man. Angier's obsession with learning Borden's trick leads him to an encounter with an eccentric inventor (David Bowie) in a second half that gets bogged down in plot loops and theatrics. Director Christopher Nolan, reuniting with his Batman Begins star Bale, demonstrates the same dark touch that hued that film, but some plot elements--without giving anything away--seem out of place with the rest of the movie. It's better to sit back and let the sometimes-clunky turns steer themselves than try to draw back the black curtain. That said, The Prestige still manages to entertain long after the magician has left the stage--a feat in itself. --Ellen A. Kim

Description

Award-winning actors Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine and Scarlett Johansson star in THE PRESTIGE, the twisting, turning story that, like all great magic tricks, stays with you. Two young, passionate magicians, Robert Angier (Jackman), a charismatic showman, and Alfred Borden (Bale), a gifted illusionist, are friends and partners until one fateful night when their biggest trick goes terribly wrong. Now the bitterest of enemies, they will stop at nothing to learn each other's secrets. As their rivalry escalates into a total obsession full of deceit and sabotage, they risk everything to become the greatest magician of all time. But nothing is as it seems, so watch closely. And be prepared to watch it again and again.

Customer Reviews:

Bizarre..........2007-06-08

This movie keeps you guessing all the way through. If your wise enough you ll figure out what is going on. Best to keep guessing and be surprised at the end. Or else, the magic will just...dissapear:)

Great ending.......2007-06-08

This movie has lots of suspense and shows you how several of the great magic tricks are done. Great acting by the two leading male stars whose competion between themselves keeps you watching. The end was quite a surprise and it made me watch the movie several more times to try and spot the secret. Well worth the price and it's one you can enjoy over and over again.

The flaws of heroes.......2007-06-05

There are numerous reviews posted on this excellent film but few of them mention the fatal flaws of the two talented young magicians that eventually leads to their separate painful downfalls.

Two young talented men work together and are fascinated by the field of magic performance. One accidentally, and maybe subconsciously, ties a rope too tight and this results in the drowning death of the other young magician's wife. Now the story becomes one of revenge as Robert Angier (played by Hugh Jackman), the handsome widower, begins to plot revenge against Alfred Borden (played by Christian Bale). Interestingly these two men would have been superb partners since Borden is the better technical illusionist whereas Alfred is the better showman. Michale Caine plays the role of a man who designs magic tricks and coaches magicians. He actually plays the conscious of Robert, the voice of morality and reason, that Robert sometimes hears and sometimes ignores. David Bowie plays the mysterious Dr. Testler in Colorado Springs, who has developed a machine that will reproduce anything put into its chamber. Testler is actually the devil, the force of evil that grants a man a superhuman gift so that the gift can bring about their downfall. This is the major character flaw of Robert. His grief and desire for revenge remain his motivation for living and even keeps him blind to the advantages of loving his lovely assistant, played by Scarlette Johansson. But Alfred Borden has his flaws too. Alfred has a twin and he keeps this secret even from his wife, which only acts to pull them apart and eventually result in her suicide.

Revenge and secrecy from those we love are two character flaws that bring both men down in this morality play of the first order. Highly recommended.

Innovative mystery will thrill.......2007-06-03

The Prestige is a tale of professional rivalry gone haywire. Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman star as two magicians pathologically obsessed with each other. I don't know anything about magic, and I found the premise of the film innovative. You get a glimpse into the world of professional magic, and showmanship, as Bale and Jackman try for years to outdo each other's careers due to a personal vendetta. Michael Kane is their mentor and does a great supporting role - as always. Like a good magic show, the film keeps the viewer constantly guessing, and slightly in the dark about what is really going on. The film will hold your interest, especially when it takes a turn towards science fiction with the introduction of the physicist Tessla, who is asked to use science to create a new, and real, magic trick. The outcome of physics meeting magic is surprising, and the final "prestige" - the secret revealed- of the film left me truly surprised. The romantic role of Bale's wife takes an overly melodramatic turn, but if you can overlook that flaw, and the overwhelming need for the films two characters to just "let go", the film rewards with a most unusual mystery.

One Twist, One Trick, One Prestige Too Many.......2007-05-29

I have to admit to being disturbed by The Prestigeon some basic levels. Chief among them is that nowhere in the trailer was there any mention of going beyond real world physics. Nor did we get an accurate view of the characters because some really important details were left out.

When the trailer first started playing in the theaters, I was really looking forward to it. I saw Edward Norton's The Illusionist first and really enjoyed it, though it too had a bit of a meandering problem due to the nature of the conflict. Both films are really small in some ways, microcosms in the world that depend largely on interior story and suffering on part of the characters. Those are good aspects of story, but these were magicians. I simply wanted more and bigger magic. I really wanted more explanation of the tricks period magicians did at the time in The Prestige.

The movie is based on the book by Christopher Priest. Priest is a horror/SF novelist and comic book writer. He turned in one of the most impressive comic book runs ever when he was writing Black Panther.

I have to admit to being pretty much pulled along by the story and the dark natures of the characters as well as the rivalry they followed until the final frames of the movie. Unfortunately, I'd figured most of them out and generally ended up asking myself, why?

When Angier's wife was dropped into the water tank, I knew things were going to end badly. Even prepared for it, though, the gritty realism of the scene was hard to take.

Jackman, Bale, Caine, and Johansson delivered standup work in their roles, but they were empty of some real resolution to a degree. Overall, the characters were paper-thin in the finished product and lacked enough flesh and bones to make me care about them much. I was more concerned with how the illusion was being done and what Angier was doing in Colorado trying to talk to Nikolai Tesla. Once I had that figured out, I was done with the film to a large extent. Without true character development, all that was left to see was the trick.

The sets and the period piece work were all extremely well done. I felt like I was in Victorian England and in Colorado Springs during those parts of the movie. I watched the movie on Blu-ray and the scenes were gorgeous. They were so clear and vivid I felt like I was standing on the street corner or had a seat in the theater where the shows were playing. The high-def format is absolutely the way to go for the discriminating home theater connoisseur.

However, the three storylines that constantly looped and interwove were really much more effort than should have been required for the payoff I received as a viewer. I know that it was necessary to make all the surprises work, but they still made the story more convoluted than it should have been.

The Prestige is a good movie. People who haven't seen anything like it will love it. Anyone who loves Christopher Nolan's films (Memento, Batman Begins) will enjoy this one. And there enough historical references to please the armchair historian. Definitely a good film to watch with a group that likes to puzzle things out as they watch a film in the privacy of their own home so they won't disturb other paying viewers who don't like ruminations while watching.

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