Christopher Nolan’s The
Prestige is a story of obsession and sacrifice and stars Hugh Jackman and
Christian Bale as two up and coming magicians whose lives are transformed into
an increasingly disastrous struggle of one-upmanship following a tragedy on
stage. Each tries to out wit and out trick the other by disrupting each others
acts, leading the other down blind alleyways and twisting reality through
illusion and showmanship.
Mirroring the rest of Nolan’s filmography, The Prestige is a smart and beautiful
film that is full of big ideas, well explored themes and unexpected twists and
reveals. Nolan appears to take great delight in playing with his audience and
treating them as intelligent equals, almost leading them along with him, through
his twisted and mystifying subjects, knowing that by the time they reach the
other side they will thank him for it. Nolan’s films are about ideas and he
doesn’t shy away from presenting them to the audience without subtlety. Where
he is perhaps more subtle is in his delivery which as usual is pitch perfect
here.
