Anyone seen The Prestige?

Magic is, in its essence, illusion for the sake of spectacle. Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige, understands this all too well. Ridiculously long, occasionally dull and too complex for its own good, The Prestige is still (amazingly) able to take a fascinating, but flawed, look at two distinctly different magicians and their dangerously self-destructive obsession with their craft. As is quickly explained in the film, the “prestige” of the title refers to the third act of any magic trick where all the twists occur and the audience attempts to figure out the magician’s secret. Nolan’s film is crafted similarly in this three part structure as a giant magic trick itself. Anyone familiar with Nolan’s previous work knows that he has a penchant for nonlinear narratives and, The Prestige certainly does not disappoint in that respect. For the majority of the film, the story flashes back and forth between three different time periods in the narrative. While everything does come together quite uniquely in the end, in my opinion, the overly complex structure does more harm than good. The flashy jumping back and forth, which worked amazingly well in “Memento,” creates several clever juxtapositions of character interactions, but is mainly distracting in The Prestige. Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale perform quite well in their respective roles as rival magicians constantly trying to outdo the other. Their obsessive natures, which should have been the central focus of the film, are left underdeveloped with more focus going towards the series of events that lead the film towards its conclusion. This is unfortunate considering the amazing cast that Nolan had to work with. Once again, Scarlett Johansson is wasted in another role that feels more like an afterthought requiring a pretty face. However, both Hugh Jackman and Michael Caine’s strong, enigmatic performances are really quite wondrous to behold. The Prestige’s main problem is its length. Clocking in at nearly two-and-a-half hours, the movie starts to become repetitive and even dull, well before it has reached its third act. Additionally, certain plot points critical to the film’s ending are left simply unexplained. The viewer is supposed to take what is happening at face value which, considering the amount of detail paid throughout the rest of the movie just comes off as uneven writing. The Prestige, for all its faults, is still interesting because of its fascinating story line. “Watch closely” is definitely a plausible tagline for this film and I can almost guarantee no one will see the ending coming. The film really does do an admirable job of showcasing the dark lengths that competition and obsession can drive someone to.