Review of Prestige, The

Introduction

Brit director Christopher Nolan is the true golden child of Hollywood. After bursting onto the scene with the masterfully told `Memento`, he proved he was no one trick pony by turning in a high-end refashion of Norwegian thriller `Insomnia`, and then sealed his reputation as an A1 talent with the fantastic `Batman Begins`, meddling in a little necromancy in raising the festering superhero movie franchise from the early grave dealt to it by the progressive dementia known as Joel Schumacher`s direction. While it`s still early days for Nolan, he is truly one of most exciting directors working today, and has yet to come undone in his career. So the notion that with `The Prestige`, he makes his most solid and grandiose motion picture - and probably his finest film to date, is certainly not throwaway flattery. It`s wholly due adulation, and proof that his success lies in his failure; the failure to disappoint.

With the gimmicks, remakes and comic book institutions tried and tested, Nolan turns his hand to adaptation. `The Prestige` is based on the novel by Christopher Priest, and adapted by Nolan himself, along with his brother Jonathan, and tells the tale of two nineteenth century magicians, Angier (Hugh Jackman) and Borden (Christian Bale), who find themselves at odds after personal tragedy leads to a dangerous game of one upmanship. Borden, the creative and perceptive illusionist and Angier, the natural showman, each try to outdo one-another during their careers, but when Borden creates `The Transported Man`, an illusion Angier calls,"The greatest magic trick I`ve ever seen", the rivalry reaches new heights, as Angier becomes consumed with learning the secrets behind Borden`s act, and will seemingly stop at nothing to find them.

Underpinned by a real ensemble supporting cast, including Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson, Piper Perabo, Rebecca Hall, Andy Serkis and David Bowie, `The Prestige` is on release now from Warner Home Video.

Video

As good as you would expect from any 2007 release of a 2006 film from a big studio, the anamorphic 2.35:1 transfer is clean and sharp, with solid contrast and blacks.

Audio

A clear and full-sounding Dolby Digital 5.1, with some decent directional implementation.

Wonderfully, there`s also an `English Descriptive Narration` option, in which a lovely sounding woman unobtrusively recounts on-screen events, a track designed for the blind and those with poor eyesight. The disc also plays host to English and Arabic subtitles, and English closed captioning.

Features

Wow, completely unimpressive, just like the cheap-looking box art.

[The Director`s Notebook], in reality, is a collection of five micro-featurettes, the grand total running time weighing in at around 18-minutes. It covers all the bases - props, wardrobe, scripting, original genesis etc, but is completely underwhelming in its brevity. Aside from that, there`s only a selection of stills in [The Art of The Prestige] and a [Theatrical Trailer]. In fact, the best extras on the disc are the vaudeville-style menus. Ho-hum.

Conclusion

Another resounding triumph for Christopher Nolan, and one more notch on his belt of cinematic accomplishments. `The Prestige` is dripping with quality, painting the allure of the streets and theaters of Victorian London with a raw charm, embellished with exquisiteness at the hands of sublime cinematography and outstanding art direction. The dramaturgic, verging on theatric performances, across the board, are stellar, with only Scarlett Johansson seemingly punching above her weight. And of course Nolan`s stringent helmsmanship is of high calibre, combining a basketful of vibrant elements to craft one of 2006`s most memorable and enjoyable films. But the real star is adaptation; the Nolans` script is twisty, writhing and suspenseful, with a smattering of poignancy and a real dearth of filler or padding. The fact that it was all but ignored at this years Oscars - particularly in the adapted screenplay category - is a true testament to the mindset of the bunch of fools who make up the Academy old-guard. `The Prestige` is a real achievement in the flourishing staleness of modern big-budget film-making, and it wonderfully transcends classification; part-period piece, part-thriller, part-fantasy, part-drama - but all very, very good.

Cracking on at a tremendous pace, exploring the tangled roots of the human drama that unfolds without ever rushing events or buckling under the weight of excess exposition, Nolan constantly performs the celluloid equivalent of sleight-of-hand, playing a sly game of cat and mouse with the viewer. Making things predictable when he wants them to be, baffling when they need to be, the biggest mark of all is the audience; the devilish way of being led exactly where you`re wanted in a film so gripping, you`ll barely want to expend the brain cells trying to work your way through the maze of twists, bluffs and double-bluffs through to the big reveal at the end - and although some eagle-eyed buffs will make light work of the film`s most substantial secrets, there`s plenty of surprises for all at the denouement. It`s this engorged narrative that makes the film a real repeater. It`s a well-worn platitude to say that a film demands repeat viewing, but `The Prestige` truly does - if not to re-admire the labyrinthine narrative with enlightened eyes, then to wallow in the beautiful craftsmanship, the cinematography, art direction and sheer sumptuousness of the piece another time around.

While the film is steeped in this very grounded notion of all-consuming personal conflict - the account of two men who despise one another and their paths to an unavoidable combustion - the real allure is the magic, or more specifically, the magic of the time. Nineteenth century London`s citizens - without the internet, without television, without a world where every move, shake and blink is under constant, inevitable scrutiny - were still as clued up as we are today, knew an illusion when they saw it, but were different in that they were actually willing to believe in something as prodigious as a magician teleporting from one place to another during the dawning of a scientific and engineering revolution. `The Prestige` pulls the viewer into that mindset, and reminds us that magic was once actually magical, allowing us to leave behind the soul-sapping cynicism and perceived `knowing` of modern culture, where the only real magic makers working the stage are single-minded visionaries like Christopher Nolan.