Some thoughts on Christopher Nolan's The Prestige (Touchstone Pictures 2006).

The third and final stage of a magic trick is called The Prestige. This could otherwise be known as the ooh-ahh moment. Of course, for the ooh-ahh moment to be effective and fully appreciated by an audience, it must be preceded by The Pledge and The Turn – otherwise known as the build-up.

When this build-up to the big ooh-ahh moment is conducted over a three-minute stage performance by a professional magician and his reappearing canary or elephant, it requires a lot of skill. When this process is conducted over two hours in the form of a full-length feature film, the degree of difficulty rises significantly (special effects and multiple takes notwithstanding).

Given the film's complicated structure and inherent sleight-of-hand, the audience has to work hard (on a single viewing) to recognize all of the co-writer/director's considerable effort and talent – although if you do “watch closely” as you are dared, you just might disprove one of the film's apparent themes and ruin The Prestige.

Whilst it is not helpful to describe any pivotal details of the plot, it's obligatory to mention the extraordinary rivalry and malice that develops between the two magicians, Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Christian Bale). Tragedy, pride and injustice can certainly produce a compelling scene or two. On a practical level, I definitely wouldn't rub a magician up the wrong way. Silly moustaches notwithstanding, magicians in 1890s London don't just get even, they get tricky.

From a casting perspective, Christian Bale is probably the film's strongest point. He apparently has a well-established cult following, but he's doubtless best known for his performance in Batman Begins. Most memorable in that role as Bruce Wayne was the unceremonious manner in which he dismissed a group of party guests. This bloke might even have the hint of genius about him. He’s certainly got presence, and I can well imagine him making a succinct, non-annoying acceptance speech one day.

Hugh Jackman, under the trying circumstances of being outfitted with a top hat, limp and walking stick, does a good job too as the other energetically minded magician, Angier. More trying perhaps is that he also plays Angier's "body double", Gerald Root. Credulity can be strained when an actor plays two roles, which is a shame because Jackman is more than competent playing the drunk, terribly difficult showman, Mr Root. Perhaps this is a case of intentional distraction or misdirection? On another note, it may also have been better if Angier had been slightly more likable, certainly to begin with, as that may have heightened the audience's emotions later in the film.

With the greatest respect, I think it's time for Michael Caine to turn down each and every role that requires him to speak with his native cockney accent. Maybe I'm atypical in my reaction, but unfortunately, for all but a handful of scenes, I couldn't help but witness the overexposed cockney caricature Sir Michael (in place of what could have been the very interesting footsteps of the character he was playing). Of course, I've got nothing against the cockney accent per se, and maybe Caine is a victim of his own ability or popularity; but surely there's at least one other actor on the planet with gray hair, mentoring qualities and the appropriate accent.

Rebecca Hall, as Sarah Borden, is excellent, even though her character's extreme psychological progression happens a little too swiftly. I felt the audience needed just a couple of not-so-subtle moments to better glimpse her conundrum earlier. But again the benefit of the doubt should go with the writer/director, as overt hint-dropping here would have been very risky to The Prestige.

Scarlett Johansson is good and quite the temptress, though it may have been preferable to cast a less flavor-of-the-month type of actress for her role.

I nearly made a fool of myself by suggesting that the actor who gives a wonderful performance as the mysterious Nikola Tesla (despite being placed in an eerie, fog-filled, Willy Wonkaesque setting) looks a lot like David Bowie. In fact, I was convinced the resemblance was uncanny. It was all a bit distracting and amusing at the time – and more amusing still when I discovered that David Bowie actually was the actor playing the role of Nikola Tesla.
 
Having made such a potentially credibility-impairing admission (at least for those unlikely to be charmed by self-deprecating humor), I'll soldier on and offer the critically acclaimed director Christopher Nolan some parting thoughts.

All in all, without mentioning plot specifics, the build-up to the ooh-ahh is very well done, but not faultless. As for the ooh-ahh itself, let others be the judge, but I reckon it would be a very harsh or incompetent viewer who didn't agree that it was worth the ticket price.

The Prestige is an audacious, clever, clinically crafted film, and should end up a favorite amongst the twist-and-turn crowd. It's definitely worth another look on DVD. Actually, it probably demands one.

For all its effort and entertainment value, I very nearly cared about the central characters. I very nearly thought the film's premise was incredibly insightful – yet which truth are we referred to?

I almost thought it was a great movie.


P M Doyle

December 7, 2006