Prestige (Blu-ray) (2006)

"A visually stunning, startlingly clever sleight of hand...  Claudia Puig, USA Today
"Take the movie's first words to heart: watch closely. You'll be well rewarded.  David Ansen, NewsWeek
"...confirms Nolan's status as the director whose work I look forward to more than any other.  Lawrence Toppman, Charlotte Observer
"...dazzling...flawlessly set up.  Maitland McDonagh, TV Guide
"Nolan directs the film exactly like a great trick, so you want to see it again the second it's over.  Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

Editor's Note British director Christopher Nolan's (BATMAN BEGINS) eclectic resume gains another interesting entry with THE PRESTIGE. The basic plot, which concerns the rivalry between two magicians in early 20th-century London, closely resembles a fellow 2006 movie--Edward Norton's THE ILLUSIONIST--and the two films are sure to be closely compared. In Nolan's film, Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale bring the characters of Robert Angier and Alfred Bordon to life. Robert and Alfred were young magician apprentices together, but became bitter rivals as their careers began to shape their adult lives and a terrible accident claimed the life of Robert's wife. In the subsequent years Robert has become wildly jealous of Alfred's superior talents, so in a last ditch attempt to steal some artistic ground he sends his assistant, Olivia (Scarlett Johansson), to infiltrate his rival's lair and steal the secret to a spectacular trick called "The Transported Man." Nolan's film twists and turns down a number of unexpected avenues as it flits back and forth between numerous time periods, creating a movie that needs to be watched as closely as the tricks his leading characters perform. Bale and Jackman perfectly execute their roles, winding up the tension to an unbearable degree as they willfully enter into some dangerously competitive patterns of behavior. Michael Caine makes his second appearance in a Nolan film, almost reprising his role of Alfred in BATMAN BEGINS by playing Cutter, Jackman's mentor; and Johansson pouts and flounces across the elaborate sets like a classic Hollywood screen siren. Stylistically, THE PRESTIGE is full of dark, gloomy colors and a palpable feeling of menace, which is an impeccable visual match for the viewer's growing unease as the protagonists push each other to increasingly ridiculous lengths. It's not an easy film to digest, but Nolan's movie offers intelligent and challenging fare that will likely reveal further cinematic magic on repeated viewings.

	Andy Serkis
	Christian Bale
	David Bowie
	Hugh Jackman
	Michael Caine
	Piper Perabo
	Rebecca Hall
	Scarlett Johansson
	Christopher Ball - Executive Producer
	Christopher Nolan - Screenplay
	Christopher Nolan - Director
	Christopher Priest - Based On Novel By
	David Julyan - Original Music By
	Jonathan Nolan - Screenplay
	Jordan Goldberg - Producer
	Kevin Kavanaugh - Art Director
	Lee Smith - Editor
	Wally Pfister - Cinematographer

New York Times
"[I]ntricate and elaborate....It has a satisfyingly puzzlelike structure, zipping around in time and scattering clues throughout its busy scenes and frames." 10/20/2006 p.E12

Entertainment Weekly
"[A]n aggressively devious sleight-of-hand thriller directed by Christopher Nolan, the magic, even at its most clever, is powered by currents -- sometimes literal ones -- of electricity and danger." -- Grade: B 10/27/2006 p.54

Total Film
4 stars out of 5 -- "Nolan has crafted a cinematic sleight of hand that's as intriguing as it is dazzling....Like all the best magicians, Nolan shows much but tells very little." 12/01/2006 p.44

Rolling Stone
3.5 stars out of 4 -- "Nolan directs the film exactly like a great trick, so you want to see it again the second it's over." 11/02/2006 p.88

Sight and Sound
"Lurching from saturnine cockney idealist to domestic tyrant, Bale is especially charismatic." 12/01/2006 p.70

Film Comment
"[The characters'] grudge matches foreground the twists and turns of Nolan's customary looped narrative as acts of aggression, asserting the brutal prerogative of the storyteller, always one step ahead." 01/01/2007 p.77

Ultimate DVD
4 stars out of 5 -- "THE PRESTIGE is a clever and complex film that revels in its dark material and slip in enough twists to keep even the most cynical viewers on the edge of their seats." 05/01/2007 p.92

ReelViews 7 of 10
Watching The Prestige is like observing a magic act where the magician's sleight-of-hand isn't deft enough. The trick almost works, but not quite...With its mechanical twists and turns and lack of heart, the movie often resembles Sleuth in superficial ways, except The Prestige resorts to cheating while Sleuth relied on cunning and guile. As is too often the case with narratives that try to be oblique to the end, the film's climax is strangely predictable...Those hoping to gain insight into how magicians work won't find a lot of help here. The details of a few tricks are revealed, but they're filled with cheats that can be found only in movies or literature. - James Berardinelli

Reel.com 8 of 10
A frequently dazzling display of cinematic sleight-of-hand from writer/director Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins), The Prestige is an entertaining, handsomely produced period thriller that mostly holds you in its grip, despite an overly convoluted narrative structure that's ultimately more wearying than satisfying. However, this faithful adaptation of Christopher Priest's 1996, prize-winning novel has so much atmospheric style, wit, and dramatic intrigue that you're more than willing to overlook said flaws and surrender to The Prestige, which depicts a festering grudge between two Victorian-era stage magicians that escalates to deadly heights...an eminently enjoyable and clever period thriller, graced with charismatic leads (Jackman is particularly impressive), an excellent supporting cast, and bravura filmmaking from Nolan, the cinematic magician of The Prestige. - Tim Knight