The Prestige

The Prestige is an intense, thrilling, and suspenseful movie. And because it’s about magicians, it’s obviously mysterious and full of twists and turns. The Prestige is a psychological thriller about two rivaling magicians in Victorian London, battling over an amazing new trick, “The Transporting Man”. Neither one knows how the other does it, and each wants to do it better. Now, I’m not usually a fan of Christian Bale, but I have to admit, in this movie, he gives a really good performance as Alfred Borden, one of the rivaling magicians. And Hugh Jackman does equally well as his counterpart, Angier. Or as he later comes to be known, “The Great Danton”. And Michael Caine is always impressive just because he’s Michael Caine, and when is he not? 

But the story is intriguing, misleading, and just a little confusing. There comes a moment when you go “ahh…” and it all comes together like most movies of this type. But honestly, it’s better the second time you watch it. Just because you can watch for the little subtleties and Easter eggs that you weren’t looking for the first time through. Now that you know how the trick is done, you can look for hints and try to put the pieces together beforehand to see how they match up. It really made it a much better watch through the second time for me.  

Apart from the story itself, the actors are all so intense in this movie. They’re all so invested in their characters. Which surprises me about Christian Bale, because I’ve never given him much credit as an actor. But even he does an incredibly good job of going all in and making every scene seem so much more important than just the normal dialogue than what it normally would be on the page. Hugh Jackman plays his part phenomenally well. He has this knack for getting intense at just the right moment. And being perfectly cool up until then. I suppose that’s the definition of acting, but Hugh Jackman is just really good at it. Michael Caine especially has that effect in all of his scenes as Cutter, the manager for Angier and Borden. The man behind the curtain, as it were. He knows how magic works. He’s the one narrating the movie. You’re essentially seeing the story through Cutter’s eyes.  

And just like a magic trick, the film ends with a “ta-da” moment. The movie is one big trick. From start to finish. You have to hand it to the filmmakers to pull something off like that. It’s an impressive feat. To not only be able to think up something like that, but to put it into motion and pull it off until the end of the picture. It’s an amazing spectacle of showmanship for everyone involved. 

So yeah, go and see The Prestige. You’ll not only be amazed and surprised, you’ll be in wonder as to why you didn’t see it sooner. It’s that good of a movie. And as always, keep on watching, with a smile on your face…