prestige.jpgDirected by
Christopher Nolan

Cast
Hugh Jackman
Christian Bale
Michael Caine
Scarlett Johansson
David Bowie

The story of two rival magicians fighting each other to become the number one magician in the world is actually quite interesting. I mean, especially they don’t have much movies about magicians in the market.

Christopher Nolan is able to create an intense atmosphere throughout the film. I LOVE Batman Begins and I think that it is even better than Tim Burton’s original Batman. The phase-in phase-out part used in the movie between different places and time are clever and appropriate. Although I didn’t watch Memento, I’ve heard that it is also good and brilliant.

I like both Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale. As Robert Angier, Jackman was pretty excellent in expressing the characteristics of anger, obsessive and dedication. In this movie, I like him even better than Bale. It’s quite sad to see the ending where he finally lose the battle.

On the other hand, I don’t like the talented magician Alfred Borden. But no doubt that Bale is very impressive in playing Borden, who is pretty good in hiding his secrets until the end. Althought I’ve watched American Psycho, I didn’t pay much attention to Bale before. Things changed after I’ve watched The Machinist. Bale has deducted some weight and become really thin when he was playing the character Trevor Reznik. Very impressive.

davidbowie.jpgMichael Caine and other actors are good also. One thing quite funny is, it happens that I didn’t recognize David Bowie at all in the movie. I learn from my friend after the movie that Nikolas Tesla is actually played by Bowie.

However, I really don’t like the ending. It is definitely not because of the death of Jackman, but because of the cloning element. I don’t think the concept of cloning fit-in the theme of the movie. It is supposed to take up a lot of time to practice the craft of illusion and to master the act of magic. It is too sci-fi to add such an element to the film and undermines the theme of illusion. It also seems weird to add the cloning concept to the background of the story. No doubt that the cloning part is to express the dedication of Jackman, but I just don’t like it this way. I was wondering whether the ending is the same as that in the original novel.

Overall, I enjoy watching this movie.

Other reviews:

The Prestige Review
The prestige review
The Prestige Review
My Prestige Review
The Prestige: A review