| Product: |
The Prestige (DVD) |
| Date: |
12.06.07 (189 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Story, acting, scenery, everything
Disadvantages: Not a film to casually view (ok cannot think of anything!)
The Prestige is the latest film written and directed by Christopher Nolan, of Memento & Batman Returns fame. It is based on a book by Christopher Priest, has a superlative cast… Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine and Scarlett Johannson amongst them and is a tale of revenge, rivalry and love in turn of the century London (19th to 20th)
It tells you the tale of two up and coming wannabe magicians, learning the trade and with ambition in their minds, and how one little knot changes their whole relationship so that it becomes more than just friendly professional rivalry.
The Prestige is another one of a group of films that appeared towards the end of 2006 and were in the running for the best film of the year come December 31st, there are many reasons for this but amongst them are..
It has four top quality actors in Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Michael Caine and Scarlett Johannson, ably supported by David Bowie, Andy Serkis and Piper Laurie amongst others.
It has an interesting and novel concept and subject matter, for a change, a fantastic script and a plot that twists and turns more than a ballroom dancer!
It has been a long time since I have sat in a cinema totally engrossed by what is going on but at the same time been completely at a loss as to where it is heading or how it is going to end. I find it takes a lot to catch me with a twist these days but The Prestige did it for a long long time and only very late on did I suddenly cotton on two things.
The Prestige is a very clever film in that it gives you all the clues, they are there but you just don’t pick u on them until you think about things afterwards. You suddenly realise that you’ve fallen for the magic tricks yourself while watching. Fallen for the sleight of hand tricks that make you look one way while the important clues are the other way, not hidden but you are distracted from actually realising what they are!
I love this in a film and The Prestige is one of those films you can watch again and again just to catch all the little nuances of it all.
The Prestige is about Angier (Jackman) and Borden’s (Bale) rivalry, how it becomes an obsession to both of them, both want to be the best there is at all costs. It is the costs that drive the film, the costs to their lives, their sanity, their loves and their friends. The Prestige is driven by the obsessions of the two men but it also deals in the mainstays of a magicians trade… subterfuge, deception and illusion. It cleverly leads you by the nose, making you think exactly what it wants you to think and then suddenly stunning you with a little twist, or two, or three!
Nolan and his brother, who co-wrote the film with him, jump about back and forth timewise in a way that does actually make sense and doesn’t get really annoying, not an easy thing to achieve at all. We see the magicians early days, the ups and downs of their careers and schemes that lead to the end situation all mixed together. This is no linear storyline here at all, and yet it works perfectly within the context of the story. The Nolans use notebooks and diaries to dictate time changes, making it fairly easy to follow the goings on, if not the intricacies of the plot, which are well hidden in the little details.
A film that begins with the death of one of the main characters and the trial for murder of the other shouldn’t have as much pull on you as The Prestige does, or surprise you as much as it does, after all you have seen the ending of the film at the very beginning… haven’t you! Thing is though you could say the same thing about Nolan’s Memento and we all know how that managed to constantly surprise the viewer as well.
As good as the story is though it couldn’t work without two incredible performances by the leads. Bale is becoming one of the greatest actors around at this moment in time. His ability to inhabit a role, to make it his and become the character, whatever the character is like, is amazing. His range of roles shows this and with a good high brow part he WILL win an oscar.
Jackman is a good actor, normally he would be heads and tails above whoever he shares the screen with, but who can compete with Bale? The two of them make the film with their fantastic performances.
With added turns by Caine (wonderful as always as the trick maker), Johannson, David Bowie (as the inventor Tesla) and Andy Serkis as Tesla’s assistant the movie is just full of great character acting. Nolan brings out the best in all his performers and the benefit to the film is immense.
Nolan is one of the most original directors around in mainstream cinema. The look of Victorian London is superb and his handling of the complex storyline is something you cannot imagine many other directors being able to pull off.
The Prestige is a film everyone one should see, as a thriller it is incomparable, it really is that good. See it and then tell all your friends to see it as well!
Summary: See this film, the best thriller for a long time)
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