Thursday, October 26, 2006

Review: The Prestige

The Prestige is this fall movie season's second magician film, apparently an up and coming genre. It has a great cast and is directed by Christopher Nolan, who previously directed one of my all-time favorites, Memento. The aforementioned cast includes Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson, and see if you can spot David Bowie.

Rupert Angier (Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Bale) are up and coming magicians who, after a horrible accident, become bitter rivals. Both are obsessed with their art and are not above trickery to steal each others' secrets, ruin each other's shows, or cause physical harm to the other. At one point, Borden is arrested for Angier's murder. Did he commit murder, or was he framed, and if so, then by whom, and if not then does he get punished for his crime, but if so, does the framer suffer any ill fate befitting his acts? The answer... crap, I forgot what the question was. Perhaps you can find out for yourself.

Be prepared to skip from one part of the time line to another. If this kind of thing frustrates and confuses you, you may want to buy a ticket for something else. Eventually, it all makes sense, though I think I'll see it again, just to make sure I've got it all straight. My IMDB rating: 8.

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