Dylan's Movie Review: "The Prestige"

Director Christopher Nolan relies chiefly on two things: those elements of life that make our collective conscience twinge and the skillful use of deception. His breakthrough film, Memento, thrived on both, while more recently, his Batman Begins focused almost exclusively on the darker elements of the familiar superhero. Nolan continues his use of both in his most recent picture, "The Prestige."

The title is taken from the jargon of the setting of the movie, stage magic in the 19th century, meaning the final, climactic moment of a trick. It follows two protagonists, Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) and Rupert Angier (Hugh Jackman) as they sink deeper and deeper into a feud. Through a series of flashbacks, the audience is informed that this began early in their careers, when as part of an escape, Angier's wife drowned as the result of a knot tied by Borden. Due to this unfortunate accident, they part ways.

Their resulting, separate stage shows are defined by their personalities. Angier is clearly the better showman, however, Borden's tricks make up for this deficiency through their more elaborate effects. These counterbalances create a situation where neither magician can gain the upper hand in their rivalry, a situation that continues until Borden develops the ultimate trick, The Transported Man. He appears to be transported from a cabinet on one side of the stage to one on the other instantaneously. This offsets the balance in their rivalry, causing Angier to become obsessed with the secret of the trick.

This obsession is the engine that drives the plot further. Angier becomes desperate, resorting to sending his attractive assistant (Scarlett Johansson) to pry the secret from Borden, as well as a trip to visit the scientist Nikola Tesla (David Bowie) to have him build a machine that creates "real magic." Angier's final solution allows Nolan to finally show the depths to which both competing magicians stoop to gain prestige.

The cast is, at the least, competent. Bale and Jackman portray their envy-stricken characters well, while Johansson and Bowie manage to be convincing, despite the fact that they don't create a lasting impression. Nolan, as always, masterfully misleads the audience until the final moment. However, as most Nolan films, it is essentially about the darkness of humanity, and while we may feel sympathy and pity towards certain characters, it is difficult or impossible to actually like them.