Cast: Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson
Director: Christopher Nolan
Rating:
Enetertainment Quotient: 50%
Genre: Drama / Fantasy / Thriller
Runtime: 130 min
MPAA rating: PG-13 for violence and disturbing images.content.

Synopsis:
The story of the film belongs to 1980s in London. Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) both upcoming magicians, together start their career but later on present their individual shows following an unfortunate incident. These two magicians are obsessed with their art and want to outgrow their counterpart at any cost. This professional rivalry reaches the peak when Borden invents the ‘The Transporting Man’ trick. The rest of the story is all about how Angier tries to replicate the trick.

What I liked in the film?
There is so much of depth in the film. It is about two youngsters who are obsessed with their profession and their rivalry becomes personal and they don’t mind going to the extent of killing each other. The direction of the film is superb. The director used non-linear narration to unveil the real story in interspaced flashback episodes as the two magicians read each other’s diaries. The casting of the film is terrific.

What is special about the film?
The Prestige is the kind of film which you need to watch it again and again to understand it better. The first viewing of the film is not so interesting. But the climax of the film will seduce you to watch it again and then whole film makes perfect sense in the second viewing. This film is a well crafted one by giving importance into the minute details.

A film that followed the acts of magic:
There is an interesting story behind the title ‘The Prestige’. Any magic trick has three acts/stages called the Pledge, the Turn and the Prestige. The Prestige means the reappearance of an object/person that goes missing during the magic. If you look at it analytically, the story of the film too follows the three stages and ends up with the Prestige. I don’t want to deprive you of the thrill of watching the film by writing more here.

Oscars:
This film was nominated for Best achievement in Art Direction and Cinematography.

Tailpiece:
Christopher Nolan is the one who directed ‘Memento’ that has non-linear narrative. Memento is later remade as Ghazani in Tamil and Telugu. He directed Batman Begins. Christopher Nolan is a director of great substance and I am looking forward for his next film ‘The Dark Knight’ (Batman sequel).