*** (out of ****)
Starring Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson, Andy Serkis, and David Bowie
Directed by Christopher Nolan & written by Christopher and Jonathan Nolan, from the novel by Christopher Priest
2006
125 min PG13
Director Chris Nolan likes it when strong, competent men plow obsessively into situations they do not fully understand. He also likes the equally strong and competent men who manipulate them. “Memento” and “Following” feature a man who thinks of himself as an avenging angel, unaware of how a mentor / friend is pulling the strings, while “Insomnia” is about an accidental killer being manipulated by an intentional murderer. With “Batman Begins” he reaches a kind of shallow pop perfection, in which the greatest powers of self-determining one’s fate—intelligence, cunning, and strength—are pitted against a teenage gloom-and-doom “can’t win, don’t try” comic book world.
In “The Prestige,” the playing field is leveled: both strong men manipulate and are manipulated. The first half of the film is a maze of frame stories-within-frame stories, of flashbacks within flashbacks, as Magician One reads the journal of Magician Two reading Magician One’s journal. The magicians live around 1899 (Christian Bale of “The New World” and Hugh Jackman of “X-Men” fame) and their professional rivalry turns murderous and vindictive—we spend most of the movie waiting to see who will perform actual magic instead of just sleight-of-hand. The more you think about the final trick, the creepier it is.
Caine plays the mentor figure, of course, and as the rivalry turns to obsession the second half of the film exploits that creepy atmosphere of progress-gone-wrong that plays so well in 1899. The result is slick, engaging, and professional filmmaking, with energetic performances from all the leads, neither of whom is particularly sympathetic (or even sane). The ending can be unsatisfying if the movie is asking you to think “the good guy” wins. As for Scarlet Johansson, she makes the world a better place by being on the perpetual verge of busting out of her top.
Similar in subject and time period as the Edward Norton / Paul Giamatti “The Illusionist,” but while that film was elegant and warm, “The Prestige,” like “Batman Begins,” is twisty and a little cold. If the final speech, about “doing it all for the awe of the crowd!” seems sentimental and out-of-nowhere, think of it as director Nolan speaking to us directly: as a “pop” filmmaker to emerge in recent years, his prestige is perhaps second only to Peter Jackson’s (and maybe Bryan Singer). As a populist, he must rely on the tools of pizzazz and machination. With each new film he must keep topping himself with more pizzazz, more machination, and even greater sleight-of-hand than “Memento,” all at the cost of heart. Perhaps he sees himself sadly in “The Prestige’s” two heartless deceivers. Or something.
Finished Wednesday, October 25th, 2006
Copyright © 2006 Friday & Saturday Night
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