The Prestige

This is an interesting movie. One half of me (the left half) loved this movie and the other half (the bottom half) did not like it nearly as much. If you are not familiar with the basic plot of the movie, it concerns two competing magicians that try to top each other's magic tricks (the screenplay is actually much more complicated than that). The film was directed by Christopher Nolan, who previously directed Batman Begins and Memento (which is dynamite if you haven't seen it yet). The film has a great cast including Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Scarlett Johansson, and Michael Caine. You literally wait and wish Michael Caine would come back into a scene. He is, by far, the highlight of this movie. If you are a big fan of any of the cast you might want to go see the film based on that alone, though Scarlett Johansson's part is not that crucial compared to the others. The film is very well acted by the whole cast. It has the feel of an ensemble piece. The film is set at the turn of the century and is based on a novel by Christopher Priest.

This film has the same problem that The Illusionist had. It cheats. I am not going to get into the plot specifics of The Prestige because to do so would spoil much of the enjoyment of the film for someone who has not seen it yet. And I feel the movie is worth seeing. It has an interesting plot, and the screenplay has been written and directed with care. I hate it when you cannot follow the plot of a movie, and The Prestige is NOT one of those movies. But the film makers seem to want to have it both ways, for it to be a mystery type film in the first half and then in the middle it changes into a fantasy film. That is what I mean when it cheats. It sets up a problem, and then to resolve the problem it doesn't play by the rules set up previously. Memento, in a whacky way, could actually happen. There are no flying pigs in Memento. The same can not be said of The Illusionist or The Prestige. But there is an old saying. You go to the movie theater to see the movie that they actually made, not the movie that you wish they had made. In the case of The Prestige, you could have almost tossed out the fantasy element and the film might have actually worked better (maybe not), but it would not have been the same movie. Of course then it might not have been true to the source material either. In the case of The Prestige at least it tends to keep to its own inner logic once the fanatasy element is introduced into the plot, which helps alot. The screenplay feels a little manipulative in the first part when they are setting up the rivalry between the two magicians. It wasn't enough just to have them jealous of each other's magic trick, but there has to be a deep reason to justify the rest of the plot. Does every movie have to have a dead family member or some early childhood scar or a drinking problem in it somewhere to help justify the rest of the plot? At some point you start going "Oh not again." But overall the movie works if you don't mind letting an issue or two slide by on the way.

You can write James Harper at movielover77061@yahoo.com