The Prestige: Film Review

9/10

Following his caped crusader reboot with the previous year's Batman Begins, and his patchy Insomnia, Christopher Nolan goes back to the mind bending, non-linear routes with a dazzling and gripping tale of two leading magicians in turn of the century London who's rivalry becomes increasingly sinister as they fight to top each other's feats.

Told in flashback, we see how friends working as understudies to a reknowned but fading showman, cockney commoner Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) and wealthy American Robert Angiers (Hugh Jackman), become direct rivals after Angiers' young wife (Piper Perabo) dies during on an onstage accident which results from Borden's mistake. Initially, Angiers pursues a vendetta by rigging Borden's displays, even going as far as to shoot off two of Borden's fingers in a 'catch the bullet' trick. Enlisting the help of expert Cutter (Michael Caine), Angiers looks for innovative methods of raising his profile, but is hampered as Borden indulges in unexpected revenge attempts. While Borden marries and has a child (Rebecca Hall plays Sarah Borden), Angiers brings on board glamourous assistant Olivia Wenscombe (Scarlet Johansson) and the two duel for top status in London. However, their pursuits are turned on their head when Borden introduces his impossible new trick, the Transporting Man, in which he appears to literally teleport. Angiers is so enthralled that he works to solve, and match, this effort. At this point their obssessions begin, leading to wrecked personal lives, ventures into the unknown and ultimately moral event horizons being reached.

As you would expect from Nolan and his screenwriting brother Jonathan, The Prestige can best be described as mind bending both in terms of it's format and it's unfolding story, slight of hands a plenty coupled with red herrings, MacGuffins and geniusly layed clues to a truly astonishing climax where the real magic is laid bare. In many ways, the film itself is like a magic show, constantly dazzling and shocking while always teasing and holding back answers.

Bale and Jackman are stellar, if not superb in their leading roles, with Jackman's showman like qualities clearly on display as the charismatic entertainer Angiers, while Bale's unpredicatable, dual-persona is excellently and subtly handled. There's also fine supporting work from Michael Caine as the veteran Cutter, often acting as Jackman's moral centre and constantly reigning in his prodege. Scarlet Johansson has real charm and complexity as the mysterious Olivia, while Rebecca Hall is wistfully enthusiastic yet over time left beaten by Borden's on-off love. There's even room for a small, but hugely important, performance by David Bowie as Nikola Tesla, who is brought into the unfolding plot by Angiers' increasingly dangerous actions.

An excellent and aptmospheric score from David Julyan, composer for Nolan's earlier masterpiece Memento, staples the film and sets a dark but enthralling tone, while London is beautifully rendered by underplayed design work and attention to detail. There's even room for some much needed humour, much of it down to the showmen's habit of small tricks to lighten the mood.

Something you can always say about a Nolan film is that it demands a rewatch, and The Prestige follows in the wake of Memento in truly offering something so densely layered that you have to admire the sheer thought into the overall story. This isn't shock value cinema, because everything is there to suggest the destination, with little touches that are quickly forgotten adding to a mosaic which only a detective could piece together on the first round. As the film's tagline itself says, 'Are you watching closely?'. This pretty much sums the film up, it's all in the detail.

Some may have criticised occasional leaps, particularly personified by Tesla's role in proceedings, but it never jumps the shark in so much as it doesn't feel out of place, is never over the top, and is never too convenient for the sake of plot. The idea of escalation in film is brilliantly displayed here, as things get more and more out of hand, pushing the boundaries into near darkly disturbing fantasy.

If there is only one criticism I can level at the film, and it perhaps robs itself of a pefect ten as a result, it's that there's little room left over for emotional investment in the characters. Neither Borden nor Angiers are particularly sympathetic, but the pace of the story and the enthralling plot means you simply must know what will happen, whether you care about Bale or Jackman aside.

Overall, a truly brilliant feat equal in amazing visualisation of story to Inception, if not quite on the same emotional level. A magic show about magic. Nine out of ten, watch it.