The Prestige

Film review time!

Went to see "The Prestige" last night, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It's full of big names such as Michael Caine (a charismatic screen presence as ever), Scarlett Johansson (always radiant), Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale (who play the feuding magicians very well in my opinion), and the ever entertaining David Bowie (although I totally didn't recognise him, it's a lot older than he was when he was Ziggi). I'm not going to spoil the ending and "twist" for you, but I'd like to know at what point anyone else who's seen it realised what the twist was going to be. My friend was a little disappointed that this ending wasn't exactly in keeping with the rest of the film (since while all the other tricks were plausible, this one wasn't in terms of the reality we understand)

The story (loosely) is that of two rival magicians. Once friends, not so any more. The film opens with the death of one of them (Robert Angier), and the start of the trial of the other(Alfred Borden) for his murder. And then plays out as the accused reading the diary of the Angier, which was written after Angier stole the Borden's diary himself (although, since this is all about magicians, nothing is ever quite as it seems). The sequence of flashbacks are essentially in order (thankfully, it'd all get rather confusing otherwise), and follow the two leads as they steal each other's ideas, and play havoc with each other's shows.

I'd give it maybe 4 stars. (of 5)