The Prestige: Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale Duel in the World of Victorian Magic

Finally, a movie worth paying attention to. If you haven't seen the Prestige, do so at once. Do not read any review that might spoil the secrets inside the movie. The Prestige is up for an Academy Award for Cinematography and rightfully so. The moddy Victorian lamp lights, the London black in the day and night, the sense of time about 150 years ago. When two men decided they would be the sleight of hand masters that moved quicker than the eye.

The film turns on an axiomatic principal of showmanship. A trick consists of three parts: "The Pledge," in which the illusionist produces a common object (or ordinary person) and promises to do something wondrous with it; "The Turn," in which he subjects this object to an astounding transformation; and, finally "The Prestige," in which perhaps a life, if borught back or restored. The most amazing trick is the highest goal.

The film's name is named after the payoff, and we see by the end it is an apt touch. The illusionist's always tenuous hold on his audience, tempered by banter and sleight of hand, is held in thrilling and suspenseful balance. This narrative structure introduces neatly to the audience what we need to know. How did these two magicians meet? What broke them apart? What do they have in common? Which one is the villain? (There is always a villain). And what incredible feat of amazing magic will bring them back together?

The Prestige, which Nolan co-wrote with his brother, Jonathan, presents us with two magicians, at first friends but soon enough deadly rivals: Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman), slick and romantically appealing, is a master of on-stage presentation. Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) is his technical superior, but nowhere near so commanding a figure in the theater. These might be stand-ins for the grunt work of science versus the flash of media and public recognition.