Image courtesy of www.impawards.com
Director :
Christopher Nolan
Cast :
Hugh Jackman……….Rupert Angier
Christian Bale……….Alfred Borden
Michael Caine……….Cutter
Piper Perabo……….Julia McCullough
Rebecca Hall……….Sarah
Scarlett Johansson……….Olivia Wenscombe
Samantha Mahurin……….Jess
David Bowie……….Nikola Tesla
As the old guard of directors hit the twilight of their respective careers, a new generation of directors have popped up to replace them. Aging greats like Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen and Steven Spielberg are on the downside of their careers while a crop of new story-tellers rushes to take their place. The one with the most promise, it seems, has been Christopher Nolan. After unleashing the thought-provoking Memento at the turn of the century, Nolan revitalized a dead franchise with 2005’s Batman Begins and is poised to develop his own niche. The importance of a film like The Prestige increases with the standards by which audiences have come to expect out of him. Nolan is a director known for taking a simple story and imbedding it with larger philosophical tones for the intellectually-oriented. His entry into the Batman franchise was a meditation on the nature of heroism while Memento contemplated the power of the mind. The Prestige, then, is an attempt by Nolan to meditate on the nature of obsession.
That’s what the main characters can be boiled down to, in their essence: obsessive men. Rupert (Hugh Jackman) and Alfred (Christian Bale) are two magicians obsessed with revenge upon the other. After initially working together, a botched stunt leaves Rupert’s wife dead at the misdeed of Alfred. From here it’s a duel between the two to ruin the other; Rupert causes an accident during a trick that costs Alfred two of his fingers, Alfred retaliates by ruining his act and so it goes, back and forth. That is until Alfred comes up with a brilliant illusion: The Transported Man. It all culminates with Rupert’s apparent murder at the hands of Alfred, for which Alfred is on trial for as the film opens.
It’s a masterfully directed work by Nolan, as he touches upon the same sort of philosophical undertones with this picture as he has in the past. This is a film about obsession, really, and presented are two men who are the penultimate example of it. The two men are opposites of one other in abilities, using their strengths to combat the othe’s weaknesses. Alfred is a brilliant magician, coming up with innovation and new tricks to raise the bar. Rupert is a weak magician, but his strength is Alfred’s weakness: he’s a masterful showman. The film comprises their duel of illusions, as both rely on their strengths as magicians to try and one-up the other. Rupert uses his flamboyant personality to keep up with Alfred, making variants of Alfred’s innovative tricks and meshing them with his stage presence to off-set his weakness. Alfred’s magical talents make up for his lack of showmanship, to the point that Rupert sends over his assistant Olivia (Scarlet Johansson) to steal his tricks.
The key that makes the film work is the chemistry between Jackman and Bale. While both are marvelous actors and have done great work, the crux of the film is how well they interact with one another. If they have no chemistry, or they try and steal the scene from the other at all times, this is a film that would fall flat on its face. It’s a testament to their abilities that the rivalry from the two becomes much more heated and intense due to the fact that both are focused in their roles. This is a rivalry between two magicians who are experts in their craft and the actors play off one another magnificently; Jackman and Bale raise each othe’s abilities by working together. One can only imagine how they would react to one another if this was Batman vs. Wolverine, but as Alfred and Rupert the intensity and bitterness of their rivalry is something to behold.
It’s over-powering in every sense of the word, and it overlooks yet another good performance from Michael Caine. Caine’s ability to seamlessly blend in to any situation has made him a bright spot in many poor movies as of late, but in The Prestige he meshes well as the brains behind the tricks of Jackman’s Rupert. While Scarlett Johansson is a bit under-utilized as the obligatory love interest, and there’s a bit of stunt-casting with David Bowie as Nikola Tesla, it’s ultimately in the hands of Bale and Jackman to carry the film.
Coupled with some beautiful scenery and top notch cinematography, The Prestige is another terrific film from Nolan. While it doesn’t reach the heights of his previous work, it’s another feather in the cap of perhaps Hollywood’s next great director.
