The Prestige/Flicka/Marie Antoinette/Flags of Our Fathers/A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints

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Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman in Se7en (1995)

Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, and Matt Damon in The Departed (2006)

Matthew McConaughey in Interstellar (2014)

Brad Pitt and Edward Norton in Fight Club (1999)

Leonardo DiCaprio in Shutter Island (2010)

Leonardo DiCaprio, Jamie Foxx, and Christoph Waltz in Django Unchained (2012)

Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Matthew Modine, Anne Hathaway, Marion Cotillard, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, and Scarlett Johansson in The Prestige (2006)

Every great magic trick consists of three parts or acts. The first part is called "The Pledge". The magician shows you something ordinary: a deck of cards, a bird or a man. He shows you this object. Perhaps he asks you to inspect it to see if it is indeed real, unaltered, normal. But of course... it probably isn't. The second act is called "The Turn". The magician takes the ordinary something and makes it do something extraordinary. Now you're looking for the secret... but you won't find it, because of course you're not really looking. You don't really want to know. You want to be fooled. But you wouldn't clap yet. Because making something disappear isn't enough; you have to bring it back. That's why every magic trick has a third act, the hardest part, the part we call "The Prestige"."

Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman in The Prestige (2006)

David Bowie, Hugh Jackman, and Andy Serkis in The Prestige (2006)

Hugh Jackman and Christopher Nolan in The Prestige (2006)

Hugh Jackman and Andy Serkis in The Prestige (2006)

Christian Bale

Hugh Jackman

Scarlett Johansson

Jonathan Nolan

Christopher Nolan

Christopher Priest

Two friends and fellow magicians become bitter enemies after a sudden tragedy. As they devote themselves to this rivalry, they make sacrifices that bring them fame but, with terrible consequences.

The Prestige

A Nutshell Review: The Prestige

I&apos;ve said it before, but I&apos;ll say it again. Christopher Nolan can do no  wrong.  Teaming up again with his Batman Begins cast of Christian Bale and  Michael Caine, and joined with the Scoop team consisting of X-Men&apos;s  Wolverinie Hugh Jackman and Scarlett Johansson, the stellar (eye candy)  cast already set tongues wagging as to whether they&apos;ll be able to live  up to the hype of Nolan&apos;s long awaited movie directly challenging the  other picture about Victorian magicians, The Illusionist.  The Prestige is the third act of any magic trick, with the first and  second acts being the Pledge and the Turn. And this movie lives up to  its namesake to a T. The way the movie plays out, it&apos;s like a huge  magic trick, with the audience waiting to see how it unfolds, getting  the suspicion on how it&apos;s done, but yet sitting through it thorough  engaged to discover how everything will be revealed and resolved. It  tells the story of how two magicians, fellow apprentices turned  unfortunate rivals, plod down the slow path of jealous obsession,  revenge, and the deliberate attempts to go at lengths to steal each  other&apos;s ideas, to go one up against the other, a fight in romance, life  and the long held passionate drive to discredit each other. There are  perfect explanations of the value of secrets, and how secrets can  sometimes be used as tools for deceit.  What I thought was valuable in the movie was the reinforcement of the  notion of how &quot;magic&quot; actually worked. Besides the better understanding  of the common body of scientific knowledge, things like having pretty  assistants to distract, and having planted staff amongst the audience,  somehow made me a sceptic to tricks and illusions, and try harder to  spot at which stage had things undergone a sleight of hand. More  importantly, it introduced me to the notion and importance of a loyal  engineer behind the scenes who designs elaborate contraptions solely  for the magician&apos;s use, and how having disloyal staff can indeed be  detrimental to any leaks of secrets.  And Michael Caine took on this engineering role as Cutter, responsible  for assisting Rupert Angier (Hugh Jackman) with loyalty and conviction  that they could, as a team, beat Christian Bale&apos;s Alfred Borden. I  thought the cast in general were superb, with Christian Bale leading  the charge. Hugh Jackman too showed that he could play a dark  character, as the two leads tackled their characters&apos; theme of  sacrifice, arrogance, and ultimately redemption, especially for Rupert  Angier. I thought he did what he did towards the end was a kind of  penance to what happened in the beginning, hoping to kill two birds  with a single stone, to exact the sweetest revenge he could possibly  muster. What also was intriguing about the two lead characters was that  there is no right or wrong, no hero or villain. It&apos;s always a shade of  grey in what they do, and for Alfred Borden, I felt it&apos;s more for  survival and the provision for family, which is a strong subplot  running through the film. I just have to mention though, that Scarlett  Johansson being Esquire&apos;s Sexiest Woman Alive, gets to play a flower  vase role here as a magician&apos;s assistant, though her role as the pawn  between the rivals added a little gravitas.  The atmosphere was set up great, and so were the costumes and sets. The  soundtrack was hauntingly mesmerizing, capturing the look and mood  appropriately. Look out too for David Bowie&apos;s appearance as a Serbian  scientist!   I was floored by the deftness of how Nolan weaved and juxtaposed the  non linear narrative so flawlessly. While the usual techniques is to  use placeholders, or flashback sequences, colours etc, here, time is so  fluid, but yet the audience will know precisely which era they&apos;re in,  without being explicitly told, or working too much of the noodle. You  just know, and it&apos;s just that feeling of being totally transparent with  time. Even though the movie clocked in at slightly more than 2 hours,  you don&apos;t feel its length at all.  At the end of the movie, one quote popped into mind: Misdirection -  what the eyes see and the ears hear, the mind believes. Quite apt to  describe how things work out during the movie, or to describe in  general, Nolan &apos;s films so far. That added richness to lift the movie  to a superior plane. Do yourself a favour, if there&apos;s one movie you  absolutely must watch this week, then Prestige must be your natural  choice. It&apos;s smart in delivery and slick in presentation. There is none  other.  P.S. Is it just me, or are notebooks a common feature in Nolan&apos;s  movies?

Two stage magicians engage in competitive one-upmanship in an attempt to create the ultimate stage illusion.

Official Trailer

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMDIwYWJlODQtNTRkNy00YWZjLWI0M2ItMzU5MmVhNzY3OGJhXkEyXkFqcGdeQWpvaG5oYXJ0._V1_.jpg

I've said it before, but I'll say it again. Christopher Nolan can do no  wrong.  Teaming up again with his Batman Begins cast of Christian Bale and  Michael Caine, and joined with the Scoop team consisting of X-Men's  Wolverinie Hugh Jackman and Scarlett Johansson, the stellar (eye candy)  cast already set tongues wagging as to whether they'll be able to live  up to the hype of Nolan's long awaited movie directly challenging the  other picture about Victorian magicians, The Illusionist.  The Prestige is the third act of any magic trick, with the first and  second acts being the Pledge and the Turn. And this movie lives up to  its namesake to a T. The way the movie plays out, it's like a huge  magic trick, with the audience waiting to see how it unfolds, getting  the suspicion on how it's done, but yet sitting through it thorough  engaged to discover how everything will be revealed and resolved. It  tells the story of how two magicians, fellow apprentices turned  unfortunate rivals, plod down the slow path of jealous obsession,  revenge, and the deliberate attempts to go at lengths to steal each  other's ideas, to go one up against the other, a fight in romance, life  and the long held passionate drive to discredit each other. There are  perfect explanations of the value of secrets, and how secrets can  sometimes be used as tools for deceit.  What I thought was valuable in the movie was the reinforcement of the  notion of how "magic" actually worked. Besides the better understanding  of the common body of scientific knowledge, things like having pretty  assistants to distract, and having planted staff amongst the audience,  somehow made me a sceptic to tricks and illusions, and try harder to  spot at which stage had things undergone a sleight of hand. More  importantly, it introduced me to the notion and importance of a loyal  engineer behind the scenes who designs elaborate contraptions solely  for the magician's use, and how having disloyal staff can indeed be  detrimental to any leaks of secrets.  And Michael Caine took on this engineering role as Cutter, responsible  for assisting Rupert Angier (Hugh Jackman) with loyalty and conviction  that they could, as a team, beat Christian Bale's Alfred Borden. I  thought the cast in general were superb, with Christian Bale leading  the charge. Hugh Jackman too showed that he could play a dark  character, as the two leads tackled their characters' theme of  sacrifice, arrogance, and ultimately redemption, especially for Rupert  Angier. I thought he did what he did towards the end was a kind of  penance to what happened in the beginning, hoping to kill two birds  with a single stone, to exact the sweetest revenge he could possibly  muster. What also was intriguing about the two lead characters was that  there is no right or wrong, no hero or villain. It's always a shade of  grey in what they do, and for Alfred Borden, I felt it's more for  survival and the provision for family, which is a strong subplot  running through the film. I just have to mention though, that Scarlett  Johansson being Esquire's Sexiest Woman Alive, gets to play a flower  vase role here as a magician's assistant, though her role as the pawn  between the rivals added a little gravitas.  The atmosphere was set up great, and so were the costumes and sets. The  soundtrack was hauntingly mesmerizing, capturing the look and mood  appropriately. Look out too for David Bowie's appearance as a Serbian  scientist!   I was floored by the deftness of how Nolan weaved and juxtaposed the  non linear narrative so flawlessly. While the usual techniques is to  use placeholders, or flashback sequences, colours etc, here, time is so  fluid, but yet the audience will know precisely which era they're in,  without being explicitly told, or working too much of the noodle. You  just know, and it's just that feeling of being totally transparent with  time. Even though the movie clocked in at slightly more than 2 hours,  you don't feel its length at all.  At the end of the movie, one quote popped into mind: Misdirection -  what the eyes see and the ears hear, the mind believes. Quite apt to  describe how things work out during the movie, or to describe in  general, Nolan 's films so far. That added richness to lift the movie  to a superior plane. Do yourself a favour, if there's one movie you  absolutely must watch this week, then Prestige must be your natural  choice. It's smart in delivery and slick in presentation. There is none  other.  P.S. Is it just me, or are notebooks a common feature in Nolan's  movies?

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