24 Oct

Review: The Prestige

I will tell you right now that anything involving the Thin White Duke is already an instant hit with me. Case in point: I actually think The Labyrinth was a great film and not just a bizarre relic of 1980s cokedoutness.

You remind me of the baby
What baby? The baby with the power
What power? Power of voodoo
Who do? You do
Do what? Remind me of the baby

I mean, come on! Look at him:

< /tangent>

All of that said, David Bowie plays Nikola Tesla for like fifteen minutes in The Prestige, which I saw last night. With the stakes raised by his cameo, did the rest of the movie deliver?

Yes. Er…I think so. It was beautifully costumed and really well acted, this I know for sure. Everytime I think about the film I really want to say I loved it but something holds me back. To me, it was really a story about villainous scoundrels and that should spell a success in my head, right? But it doesn’t. I’m left feeling like something didn’t quite make sense.

I don’t want to spoil the ending here or really any of the story. That being said, though, I had the plot twists figured out a good twenty minutes before the climax. Leaving the audience feeling deflated when they realize that things were exactly as they thought is not a good way to make fans. PERHAPS, THOUGH, this is the whole point?! I’m putting this idea together now as I type, so bear with me:

In the film, the characters are constantly coming back to this idea that the magician becomes nothing when the audience learns the mundanity of his methods; that we don’t actually want to know even when we are trying to figure it out. Perhaps Christopher Nolan (director) was trying to make us feel like his characters(‘ audiences)?

Regardless, don’t do that. Seriously, Mr. Nolan…if that’s what you actually did. Thank you.

Verdict: See it in the theatre. Rent it to watch with a friend that hasn’t. Don’t buy this DVD because you’ll watch it maybe three times. ¡Tres estrellas!