The Prestige (2006)

‘The Prestige’ is an amazing tale of two rival magicians, Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Christian Bale). It is said in the movie that a magic trick consists of three parts, The Pledge where the magician shows to the audience something ordinary, The Turn where he turns the ordinary into extraordinary, and The Prestige where the final illusion is produced. The movie is on the same lines except with non-linear timelines.

Robert Angier, Julia (his wife) and Borden work as assistants for another magician. Julia dies during one of the acts on stage and Angier blames Borden for it. Both go their own ways and become good magicians trying to outsmart the other. This continues for sometime until Borden comes up with the ultimate trick called ‘The Transported Man’. Angier becomes desperate to find out how Borden performs the trick. After much effort he manages to develop his own ‘Transported Man’ trick with a machine developed by Tesla. During one of his performances we see Borden going down the stage and Angier drowning in a water tank. He is accused of the other’s murder. This is where ‘The Prestige’ starts!

This movie is about obsession, jealousy, determination and sacrifice. Two men are obsessed with becoming the best magician, in turn becoming jealous of the other. They try to sabotage each other’s shows. Angier is so obsessed with finding out the secret of Borden’s trick that he goes to great lengths unbecoming of a reasonable man. On the other hand, Borden is determined to keep the secret hidden which lead him to making tremendous sacrifices. In the end the question that arises is how far you are willing to go!!

Christopher Nolan delivers a must watch movie with a very good cast. Yet again Christian Bale proves himself to be a very talented actor. Hugh Jackman has also more than established himself in the industry as a fine actor. These two are very well supported by Michael Caine, Rebecca Hall and Scarlett Johansson.

This movie has a couple of very strong twists in the end and an intelligent viewer should make out which is the more important one and not get confused thinking about the other. It is this understanding which might decide how much you appreciate the movie. Also, this is not one of those movies which bore you to death until the final twist is revealed. Without going on and on about how good the movie is I would recommend you to go and see this movie as soon as possible.