REVIEW: The Prestige [2006]

Rating: PG-13 | Runtime: 130 minutes
Release Date: November 25th, 2022 (USA)
Studio: Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
Director(s): Christopher Nolan
Writer(s): Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan / Christopher Priest (novel)

Are you watching closely?

Well, it appears Oscar season is upon us. The time when studios release all the films they’ve been hiding from projectors until they could become freshly ingrained in voters’ minds has commenced. We had the obligatory Scorsese film a couple weeks ago and now we have the return of one of Hollywood’s new favorite sons (who also began with intelligent and original indie visions like Marty): Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige.

Known for uniquely dark and smart suspense thrillers, Nolan has crafted a tale of mysterious intrigue concerning two rival magicians vying to be the greatest to have ever lived. One is a performer of high esteem (Hugh Jackman), if not talented enough to create his own tricks. The other is a wizard at sleight of hand (Christian Bale), but perhaps too stoic and matter-of-fact with his audience. Obsession overcomes their humanity as they soon delve into the darkness at their cores to prove themselves superior above the other. If you truly wish to succeed, you must be willing to get your hands dirty.

I must say that I usually hate figuring out a movie’s secret before its big reveal, but saying Nolan laid his out purposely might not be far from the truth. I hope it was done consciously because it adds to the film’s enjoyability. It’s about illusion and tricks that can be explained, after all. The beauty of magic, however, is the audience’s unconscious desire to not find out the truth.

What a movie like The Illusionist failed to do was accept the intelligence of its audience. It tried so hard to hide its obvious finale that we feel cheated once it finally arrives. Nolan understands the appeal is the illusion. We want to figure out what happens ourselves—to see the obvious and apply it to the cloaked result. He tells the tale like a magic trick, showing his hand the entire way while still keeping the narrative suspenseful and enjoyable until the final frame. We give ourselves over to the path he’s laid out.

Bale and Jackman prove themselves to be the heavyweights they are in their field. They embody their characters fully and shift from friendly camaraderie to bitter hatred throughout the course of this labyrinthine story bouncing between flashbacks. The rivalry is tautly told as they begin discovering new truths about the other with turned page from their stolen diaries. These are actors playing performers who’ve chosen a life in which they must act every single day. Their personas for stage and family are not the same, and this disparity helps to slowly destroy them. Sacrifice and pain will always trump love and happiness for a person driven to be the best at what they do.

Surprising applause goes to Scarlett Johansson for a performance that doesn’t try to be more than it is as magician assistant and pawn to the lead’s ambition. She’s not bad as a supporting character when there isn’t too much for her to destroy. The half-smile/pursed lips look runs rampant, but doesn’t reek amateurism as it usually does when she attempts to carry a film herself.

The true supporting roles, however, lie with David Bowie and Andy Serkis as Nikola Tesla and his assistant, respectively. It’s a real shame Bowie doesn’t act more as I’ve never seen a bad performance from the five I’ve caught. He embodies the mysterious enigma that Tesla was: a mad-scientist of sorts trying to help the world with his often-irregular ideas. It’s also a pleasure to see Serkis not being hidden beneath CGI like he has been as Golem and King Kong in Peter Jackson’s last two epics. The guy has real screen presence and the ability to transform into whatever a director needs.

It is also good to see Nolan go back to the inventive storytelling that got him noticed. While not as intricate as his debut Following (told in a story pattern consisting of three timeframes moving A to B to C and back to repeat) or his masterpiece sophomore effort Memento (told backwards in small chunks), The Prestige isn’t a straight-forward story like his last film Batman Begins or the lone-blemish on his resume, the inferior remake to a great Norwegian thriller, Insomnia. The use of flashback, while both characters read each other’s diaries, is a nice device that never feels gimmicky.

These are stories of intelligent men and who better to narrate for the audience then the leads themselves as they also narrate for each other. Dark thrillers don’t come better than this very often and while the touches of science fiction and supernatural may turn some realists off towards the film’s conclusion, I believe they work well within the confines of the world created. Every sacrifice taken is the obvious conclusion to its specific string of events, leading up to a final dénouement that will leave your minds in contemplation. Not from confusion as much as an evaluation of your own lives and lengths you’re willing to go.