It all begins with two magicians. One is the more restrained and happily married Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman), the other is the more adventurous and rebellious Alfred Borden (Christian Bale). The two may have differing personalities but they mostly get along until Alfred is responsible for a malfunction in a magic show that kills Robert's wife. After this traumatic incident, the two go their separate ways and, while forming their own individual careers in the world of magic, a massive rivalry forms between the two of them, with Robert, in particular, wanting to ruin Alfred for all that he has taken away from him.
The years span onward and the hatred between the two former co-workers only grows over time, with the tale of their rivalry told through two framing devices set over two different time periods; one of these has Robert trying to replicate a complex magic trick Alfred has pulled off with the help of Nikola Tesla (David Bowie) while another framing device takes place years later as Alfred is arrested for the murder of Robert Angier. In both of these framing devices, each of these man reads a journal penned by the other individual that lends insight into the mind and methods and what exactly had given them the drive to keep going in their differing pursuits over the years.
Juggling three different time ongoing stories (each with differing plotlines for each of its two lead characters) in one story is a monumental narrative task and one The Prestige is able to pull off as seamlessly as can be. The script by Johnathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan is able to pack the screenplay full of delightful twists and turns and revelations, to be sure, but none of those story details would work if the storyline, as it unfolds in the moment, weren't compelling in its own right. That's the key to good plot-related twists; you've gotta make sure it's not functioning as a substitute for actual depth or interesting storytelling, it should work as merely an accessory to such facets of a motion picture.
The primary concentration of the movie is examining two men getting lost in themselves in varying ways, with Robert becoming immersed in his quest for vengeance that he throws away any chance of a future, including a potential romance with new assistant Olivia Wenscombe (Scarlett Johansson, actually doing a pretty solid British accent) while his ever growing fame in the magic world goes to Alfred's head and makes him distant from his wife and child. Watching these two, particularly Robert, become all too fixated on atoning for the past becomes a palpably tragic act, especially in witnessing moments where they're so close to breaking through the past only for their petty rivalry to rear its ugly head once again and sabotage any hope of escaping this life-long rivalry.
Providing a lot of the tragedy found in this riveting storyline are the two lead roles who are portrayed by two of the more notable dramatic actors to rise to high levels of fame in the first decade of the 21st century, Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale. In the part of Robert, Jackman plays against his happy-go-lucky song-and-dance man persona to portray a darker and more morally complicated individual, a turn that has served him well in the years to come in movies like Prisoners and Logan. He's so excellent at making that obsession for revenge something that gradually consumes his character to the point that Robert's inability to live without the thought of getting some sort of vengeance again Robert evokes a type of junkie who can't live without a fix of a certain kind of narcotic.
Christian Bale (reuniting with Nolan after Bale got to play the best live-action Batman ever in Batman Begins), meanwhile, puts in some impressive work as Alfred. Bale's a skilled actor whose masterful use of subtle body language and physical mannerisms sometimes gets overlooked by people solely fixated on the overt physical transformations he undergoes for certain roles, but with him looking more like a normal person here, I doubt anyone could miss just what a wonderful job he does in this role, particularly in making the eras of his characters life wherein he becomes more conceited feel like a natural progression of what we've already seen of Alfred. I do wish characters played by Rebecca Hall and Scarlett Johansson had more to do in the storyline though, on a more positive note, David Bowie has a sensational supporting turn as real-life figure Nikola Tesla, a man embroiled in his own long-term rivalry.
In his fourth collaboration with Christopher Nolan, cinematographer Wally Pfister reminds us all why Nolan chooses to so frequently work with Pfister given the outstanding work he delivers here. Lots of striking imagery pops up here as a visual compliment to the grandness of the various magic tricks Robert and Alfred perform throughout the story which nicely serves as an emphasis on the high level of theatricality in the two men's performances. To put it simply, The Prestige looks as pretty as it is well-written, which is high praise indeed. Chalk The Prestige one up as another winner for director Christopher Nolan and company, a riveting magic trick of a movie that keeps you guessing while providing more than enough substance to ensure that the movie is more than just a few magic storytelling tricks!
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