The Prestige Reviews

Best film of 2006

Best film I saw all last year, and for me, far better and more enjoyable than some other films which attracted more acclaim (I'm looking at you, Babel). Nolan on the absolute top of his game.

Bale and Jackman are superb, the story is riveting, and aside from a slightly wobbly accent from Scarlett Johansson, everything about it is of the highest quality. Very different from the Illusionist, which is simpler, more linear, and less ambitious in scope- The Prestige is a complex, rich, intriguing film about life, love, art, obsession and deception. Michael Caine lends excellent support, and I personally really enjoyed Bowie's cameo as the eccentric Serb-American inventor Tesla.

Read the book on the strength of seeing the film, and while enjoyable in its own right, it only served to emphasize just what a superb job was done of adapting the screenplay. All the changes worked for the better, while retaining the heart of darkness that gives this film such a chilling atmosphere.

See it. It's the sort of film it's difficult to watch without then wanting to spend hours talking about.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Best of the best.

My favorite movie of all time is a period piece, drama, thriller, romance, action/adventure, sci-fi as well as documenting the history of magic. Even it's comedy is perfectly timed. Not a word of the screenplay is wasted and both acting and direction are flawless. Equally if not more enjoyable once you fully grasp the outcome then re-watch the film. BRILLIANT!

Nolan's best, possibly 2006's best.

Outstanding: a film told for the most part in flashback, with one character reading another character's journal... and within that narrative, the other character reads the principle character's journal. On top of this, parallel to this dual-perspective, we've a third character reliving the fatal night which begins the film. It's spellbinding stuff, narratively exciting and completely authentic. Nolan is growing vastly in confidence and skill, and one would hope that he continues to be prolific, ambitious and vastly intelligent. His direction of actors is admirable - all the performances are notable, but Bale, at the very top of his game, gives further evidence of being the finest actor currently working. Nolan also has a fine sense of pacing and volume, knowing when to cut and what to - it's incredibly complicated stuff made to look effortless, much like the magic tricks themselves.

so good i watched it twice!

As my title suggests I was so entranced by this film that once it had finished I wanted to watch it all over again, unfortunetly i promised my husband id wait so that he could have a gander, and an agonising two days elapsed before i could enjoy this dark masterpiece all over again. This movie has many twists and begins at the end, weaving its way back through time to gradually explain the two facinating lives of rival magicians. Although initially i was a tad confused I soon realised what the hell was going on and got right into the essence of the movie. The prestige is one of those movies which stay with you for a few days after watching it, i find myself randomly thinking about certain events which happen and my husband later agreed with me that he too had lingering thoughts and questions over this movie. Well worth renting, a mysterious and dark scientific and psychological exploration of the human condition, by the end you will be begging for more.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Reel Magic.......

This is a very unusual film, a total one off that comes right out of nowhere and is nothing like anything that is out right now. There isn't a weak performance anywhere, they are all outstanding and this makes for a treasure of a film. Even if period theming (turn of the century 18 to 1900s) puts you off most films, this never gets in the way of a great story, and anyway the way it is handled should make even the sternest like this one. It is an extra-ordinary film that I would definately rate as a 'must see' !!

Its for you if : You like an interesting story that is not run of the mill. Its not for you if : You only like shoot 'em ups with a good peppering of F's in !

Prestige

Crap film, waste of time.

The Prestige

Absolute total crap. the worst film I have seen all year!!

I would not recommend this to my worst enemy!

[Highly rated reviewer]

The Prestige

At the turn of the 19th century two stage magicians (Bale and Jackman) develop a rivalry that threatens to destroy both of them.

I was wary of The Prestige. I'm not sure that I've been more out of step with popular perception of a working director than I am when it comes to Christopher Nolan. I found Memento mildly diverting, but gimmicky. Insommnia I was similarly underwhelmed by. Batman Begins at least stirred strong feelings: I didn't like it, I was simply bored. To say, then, that The Prestige is Christopher Nolan's best film, may seem like a lesson in how to damn something with faint praise.

However The Prestige is an excellent, utterly engaging and often magical film. Magical is the key word here. I've not seen stage magic so effectively filmed before. The wonder of it is retained despite the use of digital effects and When Bale does the Transported Man trick around which so much of the film revolves for the first time it really does feel amazing.

The rival magicians are both beautifully played, Bale's Cockney outdoing Jackman's more refined American for a while until Jackman's part is expanded to a dual role which allows him to have a ball as drunken, British, variation on his character.

Also teriffic is Caine, whose career is going from strength to strength at the moment. This is a man enjoying his work, it shows in his performance as Cutter.

Female presence in the film is muted and, despite her beauty and a cut glass English accent Johannson struggles to make an impression. Better (and in a better written part) is Rebecca Hall, delivering on the promise I saw in Starter For Ten, she's a movie star, just you wait.

Chris Nolan's direction is tightly controlled and his visual sense highly developed. The Prestige looks wonderful, the well used digital effects are well integrated and the period is successfully evoked.

Besides Scarlet Johannson's underwritten part there's really only a couple of stumbles. David Bowie's cameo is Nikolai Tesla falls flat, Bowie goes overboard on the ham with a ludicrous accent that comes from nowhere on Earth. A bit more damaging is the way that the twists pile one on top of the other in the final 15 minutes or so, it's a little tiring, though the final denoument is a real jaw dropper and worth the wait.

better than you would have the critics believe

The first film I have bothered going to see in the cinema for 2 years, I must have enjoyed this film as it stayed with me long after I left the cinema.

Dark and haunting, it also raises some interesting moral and philosophical questions. Yes - you guess the 'surprises' and see them coming but the implications and extent of the so-called twists still have real impact.

Also, my friends and I also found ourselves routing for one of the characters, only to all do a complete about face at the end. And yes, you don't know who really gets the final upper hand until the last.

The main characters were a joy (if that's the right word for a dark film like this) to watch, and the stunning Hugh Jackman proved to be even better than I had previously realised.

More a study of human obsession, morality and tragic flaws - like watching 2 MacBeths sharing the same screen. Foreboding from the start, one almost wants to beg the characters to stop their madness before the inevitable tragedies unfold.

Dark, poignant, thought-provoking and emotionally gripping.

Brilliant and a little baffling

I thought this film was great. It keeps you guessing right to the end and even then there was plenty of room for different opinions on what happened.

It isn't one of those films that ends and you don't know what happens next, it is well tied up, but a bit mystifying.

Well acted by all, no complaints.

Definitely one I'll be renting to watch again when it's released onto DVD!