9 out of 10 monkeys believe they are not behind glass

Every magic trick has three phases, the Pledge, where you draw your audience in with a promise, the Turn, where the audience is unsure of the act is truly complete, and the Prestige, where the magician pulls it off with the final piece of the trick.

I saw The Prestige on Friday, and I must say, although disturbing, it is a great film. At first I felt that the lack of a true villain and a true hero really made the plot hard to get behind, but as the film worked its way through the feud of Victorian magic, both real and unreal, and the complex mysteries surrounding one man’s murder by a fellow magician, it worked in the movie’s favor. The plot itself was not complex, but the narrative threading it’s way through the different character timelines made it sometimes a little confusing. Not the bad kind of confusion where have no idea what is going on, but the subtle confusion of a true magic trick.

As I left the theater I felt conflicted about the outcome, The Prestige, of the movie, but since then, the movie could not have ended any other way.

The story of two rival illusionist’s should not go missed. Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale and the director, Chris Nolan all do a wonderful job making the acts of Victorian magic seem real. And the ending is even more brilliant if you love movies that transcend genres.

Highly recommended!