Have written a review on Queen. Please take a look. It's an amazing new album. Some little mistakes ...
Have written a review on Queen. Please take a look. It's an amazing new album. Some little mistakes in there on purpose to see how much people actually read. Or is there ? :P x
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From the director that brought us Memento and the two latest Batman films, Christopher Nolan excels himself with this dramatic thriller, The Prestige.
The Plot
The film begins with Michael Caine's character telling a young girl about a magic trick. Each magic trick has three parts, the Pledge, the Turn and then finally The Prestige.
The film follows two starting magicians, Angier and Borden. They start off as good friends but then turn into rivals when Angier's wife is killed in a magic trick that went wrong.
The two spend the film, trying to work out each other's secrets and ruin their tricks, eventually ruining their livelihood.
Borden then however discovers a trick, the ultimate trick. This trick makes Angier loose his mind trying to work out how the hell Borden does this trick.
The Characters
Hugh Jackman & Christian Bale play the two leads, Rupert Angier and Alfred Borden, the two give out fantastic powerful performances in this film. Some of their best work.
Scarlett Johansson plays Olivia, a young woman who helps Angier with his act, and later becomes his 'love'. Johansson's charecter is typically bland as usual; I believe she would have been better playing Piper Perebo's character. Perebo plays Angier's first wife and meets her untimely death at the hands of the magicians and starts the fued between the two. Fantastic acting from this actress despite the small role.
Andy Serkis is also fantastic as usual, He plays Alley, the quirky guy who deals with all of the inbetween between the customers and David Bowie's charecter Tesla.
Michael Caine plays Culter, the maker of all of the tricks. He took what could have been an unmemorable role and made it brilliant.
The Good Points
The film is full of twist and turns and will probably leave you shocked and confused at the end. You will probably have to go back and watch the ending again to understand. I think I've watched too many of these films as I was able to work out the ending quite quickly into the film, but I know mates struggled understanding it.
The script is fantastic; it gives the audience some fantastic mind boggling twists. It's quite a dark movie; some might not like this and might find it hard to get into.
The film is usually compared with another Victorian film about magicians which was released around the same time, The Illusionist. The Illusionist is fantastic, but nothing near as good as the Prestige. The magic in The Illusionist is a lot more believable I have to say, but The Prestige manages to pull you in, in a way that The Illusionist was never able to do because of its PG rating in my opinion.
Even though the magic, especially the main magic trick in the film seemed even more unbelievable, the tricks in the film that do seem believable are fantastically shown. They even show you how they do some of the tricks.
Another great thing about the film was the atmosphere with all of the costumes and the sets. This really made it feel more realistic.
The Bad Points
There aren't many but is get's confusing at times. The film can suddenly change seasons in milliseconds. The ending is pretty easy to work out as well, I can see how it can be complicated for people who don't do a 'guess the twist' thing throughout the film, but for me, it was just too easy.
The main criticism, which really is quite minor, is the soundtrack. With such a Victorian atmosphere throughout the film, they end it with a pop song?
Should You Watch It
Yes, is the final answer. I assure you, you won't be disappointed. It's clever, innovative and most importantly acted brilliantly. If your looking for a 'magic' film to watch with your children, go for the Illusionist, it's pretty simple and with a PG rating, it can't hurt them.
The Prestige however is more dark and confusing; it will have you racking your brain trying to work out all of the twists. It's just perfection. One of the only films I can really give 10/10 to.
Production Year: 2002 - Thriller - Director: Bharat Nalluri, Rob Bailey, Andy Wilson - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Matthew MacFadyen, Keeley Hawes, David Oyelowo, Peter Firth, Jenny Agutter, Lisa Faulkner
Thriller - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Timothy West, Neil Morrissey, Tara Fitzgerald, Annette Crosbie, Pauline Quirke, Rob Brydon, Denise Van Outen, John Thomson, Kevin Whately, David Suchet
Production Year: 2002 - Thriller - Director: K.C. Bascombe - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Jesse James, Rachel Skarsten, Charles Powell, Linda Purl, Kevin Zegars
Advantages: Two rivals with one thing in common: Each has something hidden in plain sight. Disadvantages: None. Art house film marketing for major release due to it's all-star hollywood cast.
Coyote98 24.11.2006 (24.11.2006)
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Review of The Prestige (DVD)
Advantages: Two rivals with one thing in common: Each has something hidden in plain sight. Disadvantages: None. Art house film marketing for major release due to it's all-star hollywood cast.
Coyote98 24.11.2006 (24.11.2006)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Prestige (DVD)
Advantages: Good basic story, performances, special effects, twist at the end Disadvantages: The story is quite complicated, may be hard to follow entirely for some
IzzyS 16.03.2008 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
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