The Prestige
THE PRESTIGE: I DIDN’T FEEL THE MAGIC
Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman star in Christopher Nolan’s latest, The Prestige. This is an eerie and unsettling movie about two magician rivals. The movie is fast paced in the beginning but slows down and never recovers. It gives the film an uneven tempo that takes away from the good performances from both male leads and surprise ending.
Alfred Borden (Bale) and Robert Angier (Jackman) are friends that make their living as magicians. When a tragic event happens during one of their performances, their friendship ends and they become enemies who are trying to outdo each other. So when Alfred introduces a new trick in his act, Robert becomes consumed with trying to figure it out so he may become the better man. It is a cat and mouse game between the two men. This game makes both forget what is important, leading them to isolate those who love them. They go through good and bad times while trying to exacting revenge on one another.
The screenplay is adapted from the novel written by Christopher Priest. The story’s elements are unexpected, intriguing, even gut wrenching at times. It unfolds just like a magic trick with the Pledge, the Turn, and finally the Prestige. The cinematography is superb, whether they are in London or in Colorado. You can almost breathe the mountain air of the latter when Robert travels there to learn more about Alfred’s trick. The costumes are of the early 1900s, done authentically by Joan Bergin. And the set direction is dramatic, with a particular scene in a stark white room while the cast is dressed in all black. But while aspects are positive, there are also negatives. And these negatives left me to feel disconnected and took me out of the film. The makeup was done poorly where you could almost tell when somebody had a fake nose or chin. And while Bale and Jackman were enjoyable, you never feel that they lost a friendship when they became rivals. This is because the friendship wasn’t adequately established before it was taken away. And while in the beginning the film was a little too fast paced, it slowed down in the middle and never picked back up.
A connection between the characters would have by far improved the film. You never felt for these magicians and their families. You see each other become more and more fixated on taking the other down but when they start to lose everything around them you aren’t sad or frustrated for them.
The Prestige is the story of two magicians who risk everything to become the greatest of his time. It is a disconcerting story that will draw you in along with its cast of Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale. But the movie becomes uneven along the way and loses its magic.
Report Card:
Story-C
Acting-B+
Visuals-B-
Originality/Innovation-B-
Enjoyability Grade–B-
Overall Grade-B
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