Originally written April 25, 2018

I’ve been a big fan of Christopher Nolan’s work over the years. While his Batman trilogy was my introduction into his work and still ranks among my favorite films of his, I did delve into his other movies afterwards and feel that he’s a really talented director. My two other favorites of his have been Memento and Inception. Aside from The Prestige, the only one of his movies I hadn’t seen is Insomnia, so I still can’t speak to the quality of that one. However, I kept hearing that The Prestige is one of his best movies, so I knew it was a glaring omission in my viewing repertoire. After seeing it, I can confirm that I also think it’s one of Nolan’s best movies.

The thing that The Prestige has working best for it is a solid story. Adapted from a 1995 novel by the same name, the movie takes place in the late 19th century, and it revolves around two rival magicians, Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) and Rupert Angier (Hugh Jackman). After their rivalry and hatred for each other has been established (which has some very understandable motives behind it), the two constantly try to sabotage each other over the years and one-up each other in coming up with the best illusions. This leads the two into pretty dangerous territory very quickly. Following this story throughout the movie is extremely satisfying, although slightly confusing at times. The parts that were starting to lose me at times involved story bits that revolved around the famous Thomas Edison vs. Nikola Tesla (played by David Bowie!) rivalry of the time. I was a little lost at certain moments, but the basic premise is definitely easy enough to understand and reaches really interesting heights. It also features a twist ending that I definitely didn’t expect, but it was very interesting.

My only real complaints about the movie are story-related ones. Aside from the confusing bits that I mentioned (which I can recognize partially might fall on me not paying enough attention as a viewer), I also just wasn’t a fan of some of the directions the story took. Without spoiling any specifics, I’ll just say that cloning plays a part in this movie. I’m fine with sci-fi movies, but I think you need to commit and be up-front about whether your movie is going to involve sci-fi elements, but with The Prestige it just kind of comes out of nowhere. It just felt out of place in a movie like this. Magic is all about constructed illusions that deceive the audience into thinking that something “impossible” is actually real…but in The Prestige there are times where the impossible actually IS real, and this makes the idea of illusion null. Don’t get me wrong, the cloning plays a significant role in the story where I’m not sure how the movie could have had the intended outcome if it wasn’t part of it…but I dunno, it just felt weird to me.

However, that’s the only real complaint I have. Everything else about the movie really shines. Christopher Nolan crafted a really exceptional movie here. The cast is completely phenomenal. Christian Bale always delivers an excellent performance, and I’m always so impressed by his commitment to his roles. Hugh Jackman does a good job being his counterpart, too. The movie also features performances from the likes of David Bowie, Michael Caine, and Scarlett Johansson, and all of them do fantastic as well. It’s hard to say anymore about the movie without spoiling what makes it so good, so I want to just end it here and say that you should definitely watch The Prestige if you get the chance.

4.5/5