The Prestige
3/4
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall, David Bowie, Andy Serkis, Piper Perabo
Rated PG-13 for Violence and Disturbing Images
Rivalry isn't such a bad thing. It can cause people to push themselves to win, thus improving at whatever task they're doing. Consider my dogs, Milton and Molly. Molly is a little firecracker with the energy of a terrier (they're both Gordon Setters). She loves chasing her toys. On occasion, Milton, who is older and bigger, loves to play with them too. When I throw the toy that they're both interested in, they both tear after it, trying to get it first. The second place dog usually barks or snarls at the other to give it up. Sure they make a lot of noise, but will they ever hurt each other? Absolutely not (at least not intentionally...Milton has accidentally hurt Molly during play, and when that happens, he immediately stops to see if she's okay. A few seconds later, they're off again).
But the rivalry between Robert Angier (Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Bale) is anything but friendly. They're two friends who are working for a magician named Milton (character actor and real-life magician Ricky Jay) under the mentoring of Cutter (Caine). But after a faulty knot that Alfred tied results in Angier's wife Julia (Perabo) dying during a trick, their quest to outdo each other turns into an obsession with deadly consequences.
The acting is terrific. All the cast members are given strongly written roles, and Christopher Nolan has been as much an actor's director as he is a storyteller. Both Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale are given difficult roles. At first, both Angier and Borden are friendly, likable guys. But the more obsessed and competitive they get, the less likable they become. Keeping an audience's interest, much less their sympathy, is difficult for any actor to do (although Bale has had some experience in this area from playing Patrick Bateman in "American Psycho"), but it's even more so due to the jigsaw nature of the first half. But Jackman and Bale are as charismatic as they are talented, and they pull it off (although Bales' cockney accent is thicker than Caine's). Michael Caine is his usual reliable self, playing a man whose encouragement of competition between the two has escalated into something he cannot control. Scarlett Johansson and Rebecca Hall are also in fine form as the love interests of Angier and Borden.
Christopher Nolan broke out into the mainstream with "Memento," which famously played with timelines and story construction. His 2000 film was a masterstroke in making a compelling story into something truly awe-inspiring. Nolan does the same thing with "The Prestige," albeit with less satisfactory results. The timeline jumps around a lot in the first half...too much, in fact. While some of this is necessary to set up the plot and foreshadow some events, it gets to be excessive. It becomes difficult to form a connection with the characters.
Nolan's movies have always been moody and cold affairs, and this is no different. "The Prestige" is a pretty bleak movie, but it is visually dazzling and compelling.
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall, David Bowie, Andy Serkis, Piper Perabo
Rated PG-13 for Violence and Disturbing Images
Rivalry isn't such a bad thing. It can cause people to push themselves to win, thus improving at whatever task they're doing. Consider my dogs, Milton and Molly. Molly is a little firecracker with the energy of a terrier (they're both Gordon Setters). She loves chasing her toys. On occasion, Milton, who is older and bigger, loves to play with them too. When I throw the toy that they're both interested in, they both tear after it, trying to get it first. The second place dog usually barks or snarls at the other to give it up. Sure they make a lot of noise, but will they ever hurt each other? Absolutely not (at least not intentionally...Milton has accidentally hurt Molly during play, and when that happens, he immediately stops to see if she's okay. A few seconds later, they're off again).
But the rivalry between Robert Angier (Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Bale) is anything but friendly. They're two friends who are working for a magician named Milton (character actor and real-life magician Ricky Jay) under the mentoring of Cutter (Caine). But after a faulty knot that Alfred tied results in Angier's wife Julia (Perabo) dying during a trick, their quest to outdo each other turns into an obsession with deadly consequences.
The acting is terrific. All the cast members are given strongly written roles, and Christopher Nolan has been as much an actor's director as he is a storyteller. Both Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale are given difficult roles. At first, both Angier and Borden are friendly, likable guys. But the more obsessed and competitive they get, the less likable they become. Keeping an audience's interest, much less their sympathy, is difficult for any actor to do (although Bale has had some experience in this area from playing Patrick Bateman in "American Psycho"), but it's even more so due to the jigsaw nature of the first half. But Jackman and Bale are as charismatic as they are talented, and they pull it off (although Bales' cockney accent is thicker than Caine's). Michael Caine is his usual reliable self, playing a man whose encouragement of competition between the two has escalated into something he cannot control. Scarlett Johansson and Rebecca Hall are also in fine form as the love interests of Angier and Borden.
Christopher Nolan broke out into the mainstream with "Memento," which famously played with timelines and story construction. His 2000 film was a masterstroke in making a compelling story into something truly awe-inspiring. Nolan does the same thing with "The Prestige," albeit with less satisfactory results. The timeline jumps around a lot in the first half...too much, in fact. While some of this is necessary to set up the plot and foreshadow some events, it gets to be excessive. It becomes difficult to form a connection with the characters.
Nolan's movies have always been moody and cold affairs, and this is no different. "The Prestige" is a pretty bleak movie, but it is visually dazzling and compelling.
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