In "The Prestige," Cutter (Michael Caine) says that a great magic trick is composed of three parts: The "Pledge" is where the audience is shown something ordinary, followed by the "Turn," during which the magician does something extraordinary. The final part, the "Prestige," is where "lives hang in the balance, and you see something shocking you've never seen before."
The film is deservedly titled after this last part, unfolding like a magic trick, daring viewers to try and pin it down without fully revealing itself.
"The Prestige" focuses on the careers of two young magicians, Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) and Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman), in turn-of-the-century London. If the dreary but oddly mesmerizing London and Bale's presence seem to recall the fictitious Gotham in "Batman Begins" (2005), it is because both movies share the same director: Christopher Nolan, who also directed "Memento" (2000) and co-wrote "The Prestige"'s screenplay, which he based on the 1996 book of the same title by Christopher Priest.
Borden and Angier's life-long feud is sparked by tragedy. The film begins with both men working as assistants to a relatively unspectacular magician and under the supervision of a magic trick engineer named Cutter (Michael Caine). During one performance, Borden, called up as a "volunteer" from the audience, binds a female assistant (Piper Perabo) with an unconventional knot before she is dropped into a tank of water. Unable to remove the knot, she drowns on stage. The assistant was Angier's wife.
It soon becomes clear that the movie is not just about a dangerous rivalry, but differing philosophies on magic. Angier and Borden have very different reactions when they both discover that the only way a seemingly old and crippled Chinese magician pulls off a trick is through amazing physical strength. Borden is awed and inspired by the magician being so totally dedicated to his craft that he would put on a fa?§ade of feebleness for decades just for those few moments on stage. Angier cannot imagine ever making that sacrifice but still wants to experience glory and success.
As Angier sees it, Borden murdered his wife. Blows are exchanged as both men try to disrupt and one-up each other. The rivalry takes its most dramatic turn when Borden begins to perform a new trick, "The Transporting Man." Amazed and twisted with jealousy, an obsessed Angier travels to America to meet with scientist Nikola Tesla (David Bowie) to try and discover Borden's secret.
If the protagonist of this movie isn't clear by now, it is because there is never a clear delineation. Both men are transformed by their rivalry, but in different ways. Though there is almost always ambiguity, one of the two men emerges the seemingly intended sympathetic hero near the end of the movie.
The entire cast holds their own amidst a powerful plot that could have easily swept them away. The leads, Jackman and Bale, are at their best when they share a scene and feed off each other, creating tangible electricity. David Bowie is effective as Nikola Tesla, but it is such an understated and subtle role that his casting seems to have just been a novelty.
As the veteran mentor and engineer, Caine's Cutter evokes the most sympathy, as he is swept up in a chain of events he is powerless to stop. However, one sympathetic character is not enough to combat the film's most damaging weakness: its lack of emotional depth. Character development takes a backseat to plot and results in one-dimensional relationships.
This would have crippled any movie with a lesser plot, but the storyline of "The Prestige" is gripping and unpredictable. In a style similar to Nolan's "Memento," the film jumps forwards and backwards in time to keep the audience off-balance. Red herrings appear among subtle clues, leaving it to the viewer to try and sort things out.
The movie's haunting score and somber scenery magnifies a pervasive feeling of dread and uneasiness. Most of the tricks seem to go awry with sometimes violent and deadly consequences. Tensions heighten whenever Borden or Angier, both skilled magicians, take the stage - an effect that works to bridge the gap between the audience in the movie and the one in the theater.
There are simply too many illusions and twists in "The Prestige" for all of the movie's secrets to be fully understood. There is a risk that audiences will not be able to suspend their disbelief for such a dense and winding story, but that risk pays off. "The Prestige" is stunning cinematic achievement. Though some may be let down by the film's tidy d?©nouement, Borden reminds us that "the secret impresses no one; the trick you use it for is everything."
