My Movie Review on The Prestige (2006) · 4:22pm Apr 2nd, 2021
Greetings, my friends.
This is your top-of-the-line film, TV show, and episode reporter here with another review.
Today, I'm gonna give you guys my take of "The Prestige".
Normally, I would give a summary of what the film's about before getting on to revealing what I think of it. However, after I thought about it more, I found that it'd be hard to explain what the film is about in words other than that it's an adaption of the book of the same name by Christopher Priest. It's even hard to explain despite previously watching it.
Anyway...
This movie wasn't something that I planned on reviewing before, but after my parents and I saw it I couldn't help myself. The wheels in my head turned like clockwork as I saw the film.
To tell you the truth, the biggest reason behind why we saw "The Prestige" was because one of the trailers that came with it on Amazon Prime made it look so exciting! That, and the involvements of stars like Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Scarlett Johannsson, Michael Caine, David Bowie, and Andy Serkis got our interest hook, like, and sinker.
To the surprise of my family and I, though...the film turned out to be an enormous disappointment! And that's even in stark contrast to the positive reception it received ever since its release in theaters.
The only positives I managed to note were how impressive the performances of the cast were. I deeply admired that the performers were giving their all no matter what, and they fit their parts like a glove. The most enrapturing of the cast members were that of Michael Caine as John Cutter and David Bowie as Nikola Tesla. Although I will admit that I can't help but wish that Bowie had a larger role and greater amount of screen time than what he was given.
Other than that, the film just wasn't all that great.
For instance, outside of John Cutter and Nikola Tesla, the characters were boring, unlikable, and unmemorable. Especially that of Robert Angier, Alfred Borden, and Olivia Wenscombe, who were played by Jackman, Bale, and Johansson. Several times, I noted that the three characters went through some development throughout the movie. But, the direction the film was taking Robert, Alfred, and Olivia in ultimately made their growth worthless and caused them to be all-the-more infuriating. It doesn't help that there was little to no sense of redemption from any of the three characters, because the rivalry between Robert and Alfred lasted until one magician went down and the other won.
The overall direction by Christopher Nolan, and the screenplay by him and Jonathan Nolan, weren't my cup of tea either.
As a whole, the film was openly befuddling and unexpectingly slow. It was frankly not as exciting as the trailer made it out to be, the trailer in question actually being quite misleading because it gave the impression that it was going to be about a regular magician facing off against another who was dabbling in dark magic. And because of how much of the focus was put on the petty rivalry between the two magicians, the narrative neither developed or took off.
In addition to this, it felt like there was a vast potential that the movie just wasn't able to grasp, the potential in question being what my family and I were hoping the film would be based on the trailer. The ending was likewise very disappointing, because just when things were going to be heading in a likable path thanks to Robert finally seeming like he was realizing the errors he caused everything abruptly fell flat on its face thanks to Alfred killing Robert and him turning out to be alive.
The themes of the movie were pretty much wasted, if I may add. The particular reason for why I'm saying this is because there were no morals for the characters to learn by in the long run. If the Nolan brothers really were trying to show that getting wrapped in your obsessions is truly a bad thing, they certainly didn't do a good job at getting that message across. As a matter of fact, it seemed more like the movie was saying following your obsessions is a good thing, which was particularly boosted by the ending.
In the end, aside from the performers showcasing phenomenal portrayals, the film as a whole was a waste at the most. It was confusing, slow, and it held no moral value either.
So, I rate "The Prestige" two out of five stars.
Eh, I don't care if they don't learn morals. Thats honestly fine with me. I did KIND of like the twist, but fair, it could have been better, but I kind of liked it
Gonna have to disagree, The Prestige is hands-down one of my favorite movies and got me into Christopher Nolan before he was cool :) It is slow, to be sure, but that's fully the intended pace, and I think Nolan does a fantastic job of managing to keep the story flowing smoothly even though it's constantly jumping across time. The historical references are wonderful as well - the field of lights, for example, is something Tesla actually did. (As far as we know, he didn't build a matter duplicator, but given what an insane genius Tesla was, who knows...)
It's been a while since I saw it so my memory might be hazy, but I'm pretty sure there was no possible redemption for Angier by the end. He'd become a murderer at this point and was going to destroy the life of Borden's innocent daughter simply for revenge. That's why Borden killed him.
Disagree here. Angier destroys his entire life over his obsession. He ends up pushing everyone away, becomes a murderer, and eventually dies for it. Borden's dedication costs him the love of his life, and it's only when his daughter is in danger that he's finally able to draw the line. He's the only one who walks away from this with anything, but it cost him dearly.
5501459
It may be a great movie to you, but to me...it’s what I consider to be one of the most mediocre movies around, and not a great introduction to Christopher Nolan’s work either.
Except that Borden was also obsessed with being able to outcompete Angier, and he clearly got his wish by killing him. That’s why I don’t think the message ever came across well, because of Borden getting what he wanted in the end by following his own obsessions and everything ending happily ever after for him. It was like the Nolan brothers were saying that following your obsessions was a good thing instead of a bad thing.
Tesla was pretty much one of the only great elements of the entire film. It makes me wish that we got a biographical film about him instead of this, because he seems like a pretty interesting guy to learn about.
5501529
I don't think Borden ever actually wanted Angier dead, at least not until the very end. Borden wanted to beat Angier - he knew he was the better magician and he wanted to prove it. Killing Angier is pointless - you can't prove anything against a dead man.
Borden killed Angier in the end because Angier had gone too far - he knowingly had his brother put to death, and was about to send his daughter to a terrible fate on top of it. He killed Angier to stop him, not to beat him.
Borden has lost nearly everything by the end of the movie - his lover, his brother, his act, and basically his entire life, as he's now effectively legally dead. The only consolation he gets is that he was able to save his daughter. In no way is it a happily ever after for him :)
5501537
All the same...hardly anything about the story was understandable to me. Or well-done for that matter. Neither Borden, Angier, or Olivia were likable characters, and instead of teaching that obsession is a bad thing, it seemed like it was teaching that following your obsessions is a good thing thanks to Borden killing Angier.