The Prestige
(Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Cain, Scarlet Johansen, Piper Perabo. Directed by Christopher Nolan)Centered around a rivalry between two magicians, this movie is the epitome of slight of hand movie making. The feud between the two magicians starts when Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) accidentally kills Robert Angier's (Hugh Jackman's) wife during a magic trick. That one action sets off a decade long fight between the two men, exacerbated by the fact that Borden has seemingly perfected the greatest illusion ever seen. Angier goes through great, most of the time terrible and illegal, lengths to find out the trick and to bring down Borden. Many don't realize this movie is scifi, because it doesn't really present itself as such, but in the end it is very much so. Getting there though, takes us through a dramatic tension between two men willing to sacrifice anything (including, ultimately, their own happiness) to best each other and it is wonderful to watch. It is also interesting, upon second viewing, to see how cleverly Nolan hides a lot of clues in plain sight throughout the movie. The performances are wonderful by everyone, including Jackman who is so often pegged as the good-natured, gruff guy, but here plays up an ambiguous, at times, unlikable arrogance with surprising finesse. You have to pay a lot of attention to this film, because it jumps around a lot in time, but it does provide markers for the viewer to latch on to to keep them centered. The mind games these men play on each other is fantastically obsessive and mean, and it's is fascinating to watch to see who will win, even though by the end you aren't sure which one you should be rooting for - or if you even should be rooting for either.
. It also stars Leonardo Dicaprio and Cillian Murphy so it has an A-list cast. However, I was also a little disappointed because the trailer did not tell me anything about the film. It had something to do with dreams but I couldn't figure out much more. Well now there is a new trailer and interview that explains more:
which is not really a good thing. I'm going to be optimistic though and hope we get a mind blowing movie and not some metaphysical nonsense.
