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Shelf Beauties |
The Prestige Get ready to pay
attention. Harkening
back to director
Christopher Nolan’s breakthrough masterpiece, Memento,
The
Prestige takes the
audience across the globe (well, from London to Colorado Springs) and
through
time (well, from the 1890’s to the 1900’s) to tell
its story, but when it all
wraps up, you will be thrilled. Set around 1900, Hugh
Jackman stars as Robert Angier – a wealthy young man who is
part of a
magician’s team that includes veteran magic trick designer
Cutter (Michael
Caine) and fellow up-and-coming illusionist Alfred Borden (Christian
Bale). Alfred and
Robert have a simmering
rivalry going based on their differing approaches to the craft, but
that
rivalry heats up when Robert’s wife (Piper Perabo) is
involved in a horrible on
stage accident, and the heartbroken husband blames Alfred. The two set out to destroy
each other at
every turn, but as the rivalry escalates, it also makes each one a
better
magician. Will this rivalry end in
tragedy? To what
ends are each willing to
go? What secret is
each one hiding from
the other? The
Prestige is
an
absolutely wonderful film, but I worry that it won’t be
appreciated because it
doesn’t easily fall into a category like tearjerker, feel
good movie, or
comedy. It’s a thrilling movie with great twists and turns,
fantastic acting
and an intensity that can only be matched in theaters by The Departed. However, at its
heart, The
Prestige
is a
nasty movie about revenge and personal animosity taken to the extremes. Not everyone may be as
ready as I am (and you
are) to appreciate how those feelings are portrayed so starkly on
screen. The actors are why those
harsh feelings are so easily recognized and felt by the audience. Bale is absolutely amazing
as the obsessed,
dedicated, wild eyed purist with ambition exceeding anyone’s. It’s a whirlwind
performance where Bale
captivates the audience every time he on screen and commands almost
every scene
he is in. He has
become one of those
actors I want to see again and again, because he always amazes whether
playing
a starving, insane mechanical worker or a vigilante with a cool car and
toys. On the other hand, whereas
Bale makes us feel as if Borden lives for the combat, Jackman becomes
the more
reluctant, but angrier combatant driven wild by his desire to top his
rival,
and being pushed further than he should ever go.
In a way, Jackman’s performance is a
bigger
surprise because he has to stay smooth as silk the entire time, and try
to
cover up Angier’s anger even if he might be nastier. Also, he
does a wonderful
job being more of the hypocrite.
As director and co-writer
(based on the novel by Christopher Priest), Nolan presents the complex
story in
a way that can be followed if you try to stay with it and avoid making
a trip
to the bathroom. Even
better, each jump
in time is far from gratuitous. They
logically help explain the action you have seen in the movie and what
comes
next, which builds the tension and shows the audience how much these
two men
have grown to hate each other and to what extremes they are willing to
go to
hurt each other. Most of all, he and
co-writer Jonathan Nolan make The
Prestige
into a great mystery that always
gives the audience enough information to keep you wondering as you try
to
figure out the secret to each illusion and how the story will end. As they point out in the
movie’s opening
monologue from Cutter, the illusion has three parts, and,
I’ll point out, the
movie would be no good if we figured it out before the third part. The
Prestige is an amazing
film for those who are strong enough to handle it.
4 Waffles
(Out Of 4)
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