WARNING: I would advise anyone who has not watched the movie to do so before reading this review. While I do not give away any major spoilers, this guide will be more interesting to those who have seen the movie and know what I am alluding to.
I read The Prestige by Christopher Priest when I was a freshman in college. I remember how much I was in love with the book for the first hundred or so pages. How beautifully Priest paved the plot with layers of historical facts, magic, and mystery. It was a brilliant premise, and promised an equally brilliant resolution. It was one of those books that you hope and pray will live up to its own expectations.
Sadly, in this case, it was not to be. Halfway through, I had begun to feel that Priest was writing himself into a box. The Prestige, I felt, was a story that could never have lived up to the promise of its set-up because no one could write a conclusion to match the initial brilliance of the tale.
I stand corrected five years later. Jonathan Nolan, brother of Christopher Nolan the director, has managed to turn the weakest element of the novel - its meandering, anti-climactic plot - into The Prestige’s crowning achievement.
It was fascinating for me, someone who had read The Prestige so long ago, to watch the film for the first time. I went to the theatre with a certain lack of enthusiasm, remembering only vaguely the details of the plot but clearly the strong feeling of disappointment in the conclusion of the book. I also doubted my ability to be truly enthralled by the movie since like other movies such as The Usual Suspects and The Sixth Sense, it seemed The Prestige would depend on what the promos had touted to be its twist ending, which had already been revealed to me by the book.
The reason that propelled me to the movie theatre was a sense of curiosity; I wanted to see what Jonathan and Christopher Nolan could do in their adaptation. After all, the premise was wonderful, the cast was designed to bring in the big bucks — it was only left to be seen whether the plot would take the disappointing turn for the worst as the book had done.
Article comments
1 - Mark
I got a weird interpretation at the end. I think that a dead Angier at the end was just staged. Angier and his manager could have made a clone before that incident, just to make Bordon(or the twin) feel satisfied for revenge maybe of his twin brother and by that they would be even so Bordon (or the twin) can be with the little girl (i remember when Angier's manager made a visit on his home and said that the child needs her father). The last line "You want to be fooled" as slowly panning the camera from the dead body to the glass chamber would mean that the viewers were actually fooled by the ending, having a thought that Angier really died. The ending of the movie itself was part of the trick, that's the whole point of the movie, that's why the narration of the three acts of magic trick was repeated at the end of the movie, the prestige. You're fooled!
2 - hikegirl4545
I thought everything in this movie was perfect they did a damn good job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
3 - Phillip Winn
No question, this is a brilliant movie. I had a hard time deciding which was better -- The Illusionist or The Prestige. In the end, I've decided that they're simply both fantastic.
4 - rachel
I saw the Illusionist first...although I saw the Prestige trailer first (and wanted to see it before I ever heard of the Illusionist, I did not like it very much.
The Illusionist to me was unbelievable, non-imaginative and had a rushed-boring twist ending.
I was on the edge of my seat for the Prestige. It was simply amazing. Everything. The acting. The costumes. The lighting. The plot. The ending. Amazing.