The Prestige is the follow up film from Batman Begins, director Christopher Nolan. I remember it first being released at cinemas and to be honest I didn’t think it would be a film that I would actually make a point of leaving the house for and then pay extortionist prices for entry, not to mention the all too tempting confectionary items. Now that it was out on DVD I thought it would definitely be worthy of the student rate rental charge. The film itself is an adaptation of the acclaimed Christopher Priest novel of the same name. It documents the tail of a pair of rival magicians in turn-of-the-century London, played respectably by two of Hollywood’s big hitters, Hugh Jackman and Christain Bale, both sharing in their success as superhero based incarnations; with the X-men trilogy and the pending Batman franchise. The film revolves around the fact that each magician has a winning trick the other craves. Yet so arcane is the nature of these tricks, so incredibly difficult are they to perform, that they take on a peculiar life of their own - in one case involving a mysterious apparent double identity, in the other a reliance on the ferocious powers unleashed in the early experimental years of electricity. The rivalry of the two men is such that in the end, though both are ashamed of the strength of their feelings of spite and envy, it consumes them both, and affects their respective families for generations.
Much like Director Chris Nolan’s other films, this a tightly scripted yet convoluted affair. Don’t let my brief summing up of the story fool you as it is very heavy on plot. It often plays around with structure, is deliberately slow in its pacing, and is emotionally a bit of a wet sack. Deadly serious and surprisingly dark, you may find the tale of rival magicians a somewhat cold affair that never really allows the characters to open up beyond their rather one-dimensional obsession for revenge - though that perhaps in the end is somewhat the point of the whole tale.
The mystery angle is what everyone will be talking about after the film and it’s full of them, both the key characters have their separate big twists along with multiple other minor ones along the way that ensure that even if you figure out some, there’ll be others to take you by surprise. So if you’re a fan of the sixth sense styled twists you’ll definitely enjoy this element of the film. The performances are solid all around, each actor well suited for the material despite one or two minor problems. Jackman and Baile both carry of the leading roles well and it was interesting to see the both of them interact on screen. For Jackman, his main performance is strong and a nice change of pace from his more cheery leading man turns. Bale as always brings his seriousness and dedication, as does Caine whose warmth and cool-headed logic made him my favourite character in the film, but then again for me Michael Caine, could star in a remake of the pee wee’s big adventure and I think with his cockney English swagger he could definitely pull it off. Only Scarlett Johansson seems a little out of place, more a casting oddity than anything as her character is only marginally involved, and I’m no Impressionist but her attempt at an English accent seems to strangely vary in tone throughout the movie.
In the end perhaps there’s too much going on in the film. ‘Prestige’ is almost too clever for its own good and consequently thinks it can outsmart the audience at every turn. The trouble with that thinking is that it takes the audience’s intelligence somewhat for granted - those not smart enough will simply turn away, others will not just get it but be ahead of where the filmmakers expect them to be. Although it’s nearly worth going to see for the excellent cameo by a nearly unrecognisable David Bowie, some will just be confounded by the film and give up, others will find it too sterile or simply trying too hard - both of which are fair complaints.
EXTRA FEATURES
· The Director’s Notebook featurette · Conjuring The Past featurette · The Visual Maze featurette · Metaphors Of Deception featurette
· Tesla: The Man Who Invented The Twentieth Century featurette · Resonances feturette · 4 photo galleries · Theatrical trailerIn the final featurette resonances, Nolan expresses his hope that The Prestige will get people thinking more deeply about the mechanics of storytelling. But since he doesn’t provide commentary for the main feature, anyone wondering about the technical jargon that goes into making a film will be disappointed. Even so, fans of Nolan wouldn’t want to miss this particular trick. As far as DVD gems go it’s not an instant classic, but I didn’t feel like I’d wasted my time either and it killed a few hours trying to save money on a night in. I still stand by my first instinct of denying it the “Go to the cinema status”. Some films are a must see in the cinema experience, this is not one of them. I rate it a very generous 3 stars.Written by Niall McCraken
