The Prestige (2006)

• Year: 2006
• Released: 20 Oct 2006
• Country: United Kingdom, United States
• Adwords: Nominated for 2 Oscars. 6 wins & 45 nominations total
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0482571/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/The_Prestige
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-prestige
• Available in: 720p, 1080p, 2160p
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: PG-13
• Genre: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
• Runtime: 130 min
• Writer: Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan, Christopher Priest
• Director: Christopher Nolan
• Cast: Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson
• Keywords: magic, secret, dying and death, obsession, rivalry,

	8.5/10
	66/100

The Prestige Storyline

In nineteenth century London, illusionist Alfred Borden is on trial for the murder of fellow illusionist, Robert Angier. Borden’s indictment is largely possible because of the eyewitness account of John Cutter, who saw Borden backstage in the area where Angier was killed. At the end of one of his shows, Angier fell through a trap door in the stage floor into a clear water-filled tank below, that tank which was a prop for one of Angier’s tricks performed earlier in the show. Angier ended up drowning, as the tank was locked after he fell into it. Borden, Angier, and Cutter have a shared largely turbulent history, which also provides motive. Early in their magic careers, both Borden and Angier worked under “Milton the Magician”, while Angier’s wife Julia worked as his on-stage assistant, and Cutter as his ingénieur, staging the tricks and providing the apparatus required, work that he still does for others. Based on a specific incident during this stage of their relationship led to both Borden and Angier striking out, creating their own shows, and them having a feud, which was not only in the professional realm, but a personal one, where each man wanted to ruin the other. While Borden is arguably more accomplished in the technical aspects of the illusions, Angier is the more accomplished showman. In the professional realm, they tried to outdo each other, especially in the illusions considered either the most dangerous and/or mysterious, those two being catching-the-bullet trick, and more so, the transported man trick. In the process of their feud, they seemingly were not averse to any means, even with collateral damage of others. The question is if those means extend to murder, especially of the other.

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The Prestige Movie Reviews

Just As Intriguing The Second Time, Too!

I’ve seen this film twice now – about a year ago and then yesterday – and thoroughly enjoyed it both times, even the second time when I remembered some of those fantastic twists in the last half hour. Sometimes it’s even more fun to view a film like this when you know a few things, because earlier scenes take on new meaning.

It’s not an easy film to totally digest, even with two viewings, because that ending has some mind-boggling revelations. 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. They continually try to top one another and things get nasty along the way. 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!

Some very interesting plot twists and originality, though it’s a bit grim and lifeless

After seeing that this film is in the IMDb top 100, I thought it was a film I must see. Now that I’ve seen it, I feel a bit disappointed. Now I must admit that the film was terribly original and had some odd twists, though the film overall is awfully grim and lifeless–mostly because it was hard connecting with the characters.

Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman play magicians who are partners. Things go very well for a while until Jackman’s wife is accidentally killed doing a dangerous trick. Jackman blames Bale for this and you really can’t tell if Bale did anything wrong or if it was just a sad tragedy. Regardless, Jackman spends the rest of the film persecuting Bale and trying to destroy him. After a while, Bale begins fighting back and it’s an all-out war with horrible consequences. I won’t say more–because I don’t want to spoil the film. However, I will say that it gets really, really, really weird when Nicola Tesla (played very well by David Bowie) enters the fray–creating the ultimate magical box for Jackman.

Aside from the magic box being ridiculously anachronistic, the film is so slow and hard to love–despite it’s wonderful twists. It’s hard to like either of the magicians (particularly Jackman) and after a while I lost interest–mostly because of the pacing and disagreeable characters. Overall, I greatly respect the film but also didn’t particularly enjoy watching it.