Film: The Prestige
Genre: Drama
Release Date: October 20th, 2006
Distributor: Touchstone Pictures
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 2 hrs. 15 min.
Review by Sirus

Starring:
Christian Bale
Hugh Jackman
Michael Caine

The Prestige is a movie about magic and about competing magicians with a rivalry that consumes them until their death. The two men are Robert Angier (HUGH JACKMAN) and Alfred Borden (CHRISTIAN BALE). Both men start out as stage hands to another more successful magician and after a time, they desire fame and fortune and decide to create their own tricks. They are not content just mimicking others’ tricks and instead desire to create their own magic tricks. At one point in the movie, Alfred develops a trick that Robert is obsessed with replicating. This sets in motion a rivalry that carries the two men through the end of the movie.

From the beginning to the end, I was astonished and amazed by the tricks of these two men and it was hard for me to follow all the different tricks they pulled on one another. I was kept guessing until the very end when they finally explain it all. The movie is a bit slow through the middle portion and at the beginning it seems like it is just aimlessly jumping around until they finally pull it all together. Viewers who are unable to push through a slow confusing beginning to get to a great ending will find the movie a bit boring and possibly even walk out. Anyone who has the patience and finds the trailers intriguing enough that they want to find out more about the story should definitely watch the movie. It was definitely worth watching because the ending makes up for the slow middle and explains everything.

Final Score: 4 out of 5 stars