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Tuesday, August 20, 2013

The Prestige Review.

Thoughts: Before Christopher Nolan made The Dark Knight and Inception he made another mind bending film named The Prestige, aka, one of the most underrated and forgotten films ever made. The movie is about two competing magicians who are trying to have the better "Teleporting Man" trick and these guys, played by Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman, are also trying to get revenge for personal reasons, which are explained in the film. The Prestige is one of the those movies that you keep you thinking and talking about long after the film ends. Because of this, there will be complete spoiler section at the bottom; however the rest of the review will be spoiler free.


Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Mind bender, Period drama,
Release Date: October 20, 2006
Running Time: 130 minutes
MMPA rating: PG-13


The Good: Shocking plot twists, Excellent performances, Great characters, Uniquely structured plot, Complex plot, Thought provoking, Satisfying ending, Ensemble cast, Intriguing mystery, Original, Suspenseful, Superb cinematography (Oscar nominated),

The Bad:


Plot: The following plot summary is copied from Wikipedia.com.
A magician performs an illusion for a young girl explaining that each trick has three parts; the pledge, where the audience is presented with an ordinary object; the turn, where the object is turned into something extraordinary; and the prestige, where the object is brought back.
Magician Alfred Borden (Bale) is sentenced to death for the murder of rival Robert Angier (Jackman) by drowning him in a water tank during one of Angier's performances. Both began their careers as shills for "Milton the Magician" with ingénieur John Cutter (Caine) and Angier's wife Julia (Perabo) as his assistant. The pair observe an elderly Asian magician who is able to make a large fishbowl appear seemingly from nothing. Borden realizes that the man's frailty is in fact the act and comments that true magic requires sacrifice.
Watch the movie to see what happens next.


Plot: 9.6/10- Nolan creates a unique, nonlinear narrative structure in The Prestige, switching between three different timelines in the story. At first the narrative can be difficult to follow and a little confusing, however it becomes easier to follow as the film progresses. The characters are well written and are given due motive for their actions. What makes the film great however is that the mystery is brilliantly crafted and all the plot twists. While the twist is positively fantastic, it is the point where viewers will either love or hate the film. The twist may not be the best or most shocking twist ever, it is certainly up there.

Action: N/A-

Acting: 9.6/10- Christopher Nolan sure knows how to bring together an excellent cast and The Prestige is no exception. The Prestige's ensemble is fantastic, with top notch and sometimes Oscar worthy performances across the board. Jackman gives his best performance outside of the X-Men franchise and while Bale is occasionally difficult to understand, his performance was very good. Bale's character actually felt like a real human character unlike some of his past roles. As always, Michael Caine brings great gravitas in his usual mentor role. The lovely Scarlett Johansson, gives another amazing performance, albeit in a more minor role. The other cast members are excellent without a single weak performance.

Special effects: N/A-

Soundtrack: 7.7/10- Although it was not the most memorable, it services the film well and adds to the intrigue.

Comedy: N/A-

Would I Watch This Again: Unlike many mysteries, the film has a re-watch-ability since you want to catch all of the clues to the mystery.

Overall: 9.4/10- Overall The Prestige is an amazing film, perfectly structured and well acted with one of the best mysteries ever put to film.

Closing comments: Not everyone will enjoy the film, but it is one that you need to see and decide for yourself.

Recommended for: Nolan fans, Mystery fans, Christian fans, Hugh Jackson fans, Period drama fans, Suspense fans, Mind bender fans,

*Spoiler Discussion*
OK, the ending was absolutely amazing! While it was surprisingly straight forward and not ambiguous like Inception's ending, it made sense for the most part. Not even for a second had I thought Bernard was being played by Christian Bale, the disguise completely fooled me. As for Tesla's sci-fi/magic cloning machine: I liked the idea. Even though it kind of broke the rules of the established world, I actually enjoyed the sci-fi turn at the end. I can see some people really hating it for the twist, which is why the film is not for everyone. My only problem with the film is that, the characters Robert Angier and "The Great Danton" were both played by Hugh Jackman. I know Danton was an actor, but no one except for an identical twin can look that similar to a person. It was not a huge problem and did not effect the score, but it was definitely worth noting.
*End Spoilers*

What are your thoughts on the film? If you have seen it, please discuss spoilers in the comment, if not do you plan to watch the film?

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21 comments:

  1. It sounds very interesting.
    -sw

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  2. This is one of my favorite films of alltime. It's crafted with such care that I can watch it over and over again and enjoy each time. Really think this film shows off the growth and creativity that Nolan has, something obvious since Memento.

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    1. Agreed, one of the best movies ever. I have yet to see Memento, but that is next on my list, but did such an excellent job with the movie. I have read that the author of the book the movie is based on said the movie was even better than the book.

      -James

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  3. I really need to watch this again. For the life of me I can't remember the last time I've seen it. I must have been too young to appreciate it.

    Good review, James!

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    Replies
    1. Definitely give it another shot, even though you might remember the plot twist, it should be worth watching again.

      Thanks!

      -James

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  4. I remember watching it and w/o giving too much away, I knew all the twists that were coming merely because, to quote Sherlock Holmes, "Once you eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

    One performance that I was highly impressed w/was that of David Bowie as Tesla. I think he should have received a Best Supporting Actor nomination.

    Not a bad film but I don't understand why people were surprised at the end. Might watch it again.

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    1. *Spoiler* Seriously, you even figured out that Bernard was Freddie's twin?

      I agree, he was superb as Tesla. I did not know notice while watching the movie that David Bowie was in the movie.

      You might like it more if you watch it again.

      -James

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    2. *SPOILERS* I don't think Bernard was Freddie's twin. That's the genius. He just hadn't killed his duplicate. He couldn't have kept a twin hidden his entire life, especially when there wasn't a reason to (earlier in life). Tesla mentioned that he had done work of the same variety for someone else before. Just my thoughts. Watch it again and see if I'm not right.

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  5. I really want to see this movie sometime- it sounds like it's very good :)

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    Replies
    1. This is another movie that I believe you would like. :)

      -James

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  6. Love this one!! The only thing I didn't like was Scarlett Johansson. I don't really like her as an actress, and I think her role could have easily filled by someone else. Other than that, This movie was awesome.

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    1. Glad we both love it! You didn't like ScarJo? I actually thought she was great, although I am a fan of her work in general.

      -James

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  7. I have this one on my DVD list for Netflix, it sounds really good! I didn't realize Bale and Jackman were in it though, so that makes it sound extra great! :)

    ~Jamie

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    1. Hopefully you will enjoy it as much as I did, it is fantastic! :) Bale and Jackman were great too.

      -James

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  8. Great pick James. Its interesting that a very similar movie the Illusionist came out at the same time. However the Prestige is the better of the two. It was a great movie, and anytime you have David Bowie in a film is a reason to celebrate.

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    1. Although I have not seen it, I have heard about the Illusionist coming out in the same year. It is somewhat similar to what is happening this year with the two White House attack movies.
      David Bowie was surprisingly great in that movie, even if his role was limited.

      -James

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  9. I saw this in the theater, and I was so freaked out by the fact that Robert was killing clones of himself off over and over that I went into this total tailspin because I couldn't accept him being willing to do that, to kill off all these innocent clones (and sometimes himself?) just to get his revenge. Totally freaked me out, and I could not watch any Hugh Jackman movies at all for several months, couldn't listen to my "Oklahoma!" soundtrack, nothing. Which, since you know how much I love Wolverine, was pretty major. It wasn't until "Australia" came out that I started to be able to watch Jackman in something without getting the wiggins. I still have absolutely zero desire to ever see this movie again. Too cringe-inducing.

    Which means, whoa, powerful movie.

    This is also the first thing I ever saw Scarlett Johansson in, and I couldn't decide if I liked her or not.

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    Replies
    1. That is an incredibly dark aspect of the movie, and I can kind of understand you being freaked out by it. Yeah, it was kind of unclear about whether he kills himself sometimes or the clone, although does it really matter if they have the same memories? The Prestige is certainly not for everyone, so I am understand you not liking the movie.

      After seeing the Avengers, and a few other movies that she is in, she is actually one of my favorites.

      -James

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    2. I realized this year that I identify very closely with any character played by Hugh Jackman, which made me understand why it freaked me so completely. I think, knowing that, I could probably stand watching it again. Maybe.

      After this, I saw "Scoop," which was a lot of fun, and ScarJo was delightful in it, so thanks to that and Avengers, I'm a fan :-)

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  10. christian grey
    Awesome book Fifty shades of grey Thanks for book E L James waiting for movie....

    ReplyDelete

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