"The Prestige" - Great Movies You May Have Missed - #1
(Plot Spoilers present in comments)
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"Any trick can be duplicated, right Mr. Cutter?"
The Prestige was released in 2006 to, what appeared to me, to be little fanfare or cultural relevance. The film was successful, but from my anecdotal experience seems to be mostly unknown.
Directed by Christopher Nolan, probably best known for The Dark Knight Trilogy and Inception, the film follows a feud of one-upsmanship between two magicians complete with sabotage and intrigue. That's just the beginning however, as by the conclusion of the film it has veered distinctly into science fiction territory. I'd like to highlight some more of the plot, but I fear it would not be doing it or the audience justice.
The cast is star-studded. Our feuding magicians are literally Batman (Christian Bale) vs. Wolverine (Hugh Jackman, seen above in his manliest pose).
Scarlett Johansson rounds out the magician crew as the lovely assistant.
Michael Caine, probably best known as Batman's butler Albert, plays the phenomenal Cutter, an inventor with some decidedly steampunk magical accessories:
It's difficult to put into words, especially when handicapped by spoilers, just why The Prestige is so amazing. The plot is complex with many details and layers. It's one of those dramas that you will notice additional details in on the second and third viewing that make you wonder what kind of obsessive mind did the editing and writing. The end result is you will be able to enjoy this film several times, despite the heavy and critical plot spoilers you will receive. I did not fully grasp the nuance of the plot on the first viewing at all. In fact, for the first and last time ever, I wanted to immediately re-watch the movie as I felt the plot just inches outside my grasp, like the memory of a dream upon waking.
In a remarkable performance that many people don't even notice, the late David Bowie plays Nikola Tesla - a very consequential character. It's probably my favorite minor supporting role of all time, and it's shocking how naturally Bowie takes to it:
The ending will blow you away, and may make you want to immediately re-view the film from a different perspective. In a way, it reminds me of Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, or a particularly satisfying episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Myriad errant threads reform a single whole in the final moments. If you have even a passing interest in the film, be very careful about spoilers! You don't want to learn anything before you go in.
I'd love to hear your suggestions for other movies which did not receive their due attention.
Please be careful about spoilers in the comments!
Images courtesy of Warner Bros. The Prestige
I really liked the movie, and I just recently rewatched it with my girlfriend. The cast is amazing at their characters, the plot is.. well, not the best, but certainly okay, and the directing is very nice. So overall a very pleasant movie to watch.
Was your objection to the plot based on, well, it's lack of justification in real-world physics, or something else? I missed a few things the first time around, and when I watched the second time, scenes that seemed like boring wastes of time with unnecessary details now seemed much more amusing. How did Borden get into his future wife's apartment so fast? Why did his finger wound, after healing for some time, suddenly look as bad as the day it was inflicted?
Big fan of this movie. The script unwinds like the magic tricks on display. Nolan showed real growth as a film-maker between Memento (which I don't like) and this. He hit his peak with Dark Knight and has become insufferably self-important since then.
The script for Inception was half-finished. The minor characters didn't have strong enough arcs to make the movie a classic, which it should have been. This film has that and more.
I, too, felt a bit let down by Inception. However, I did not see it until I had heard about how it was the "best thing since sliced bread" for nearly a year. That can have a powerful psychological effect and warp one's expectations. I'm not sure that was the problem for me in this case though, or at least in the "pie chart of all problems with the movie", it was a relatively small sliver. I found some of the plot off-shoots a bit half-baked.
It did make for a good South Park episode, though!
I'm a huge Philip K Dick fan (was so well before he became fashionable) and Inception, like a lot of films is an attempt to capture his book Ubik in some way... the waking world vs. the dream world... etc. But Nolan's take is too logical, too technical.
So many film-makers have read that book and so few of them actually get it. It's a shame that they've ruined it for the audience because now it can't be made on its own. Michel Gondry came to that conclusion two years ago.
Gondry...haven't heard that name in a couple years. Used to love some of his music videos: Star Guitar, Hardest Button to Button. Great stuff, maybe I'll highlight some of those in a post.
Very good film. I recently recommended it to my students - none had ever heard of it.
I love it - if you still have to see such movie - press play you ll be astonished
I liked it a lot. I knew they were twins.
Love Christian Bale movies but never heard of this one. Will definitely be watchign it soon. Thank you!