The Prestige
Synopsis: Two rival magicians spy on, and sabotage the performances of each other in an escalating game of violence to be the best.
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Review
The Prestige is based on the novel of the same name by Christopher Priest. It tells the story of the rivalry between two magicians, Borden and Angier. The two used to work together, but separated after an incident that ended up with the death of Angier’s wife during a performance.
While Borden is a better magician from a technical point of view, Angier excels at mounting a good show. Both magicians frequently attend the performances of the other hidden under a costume. They will not only peek around for ideas that they can use to improve their own acts but also try to sabotage the show of their rival. One day when Borden was performing the “Bullet Catch” trick it is a disguised Angier who gets picked from the audience to fire the gun, which he loaded with a real bullet, costing Borden two fingers of his hand. Another time, when Angier is performing the “Vanishing Bird Cage” trick Borden ruins it by releasing the mechanism in the cage, causing injuries to a woman from the audience. When Borden comes up with the “Transported Man” trick, in which he enters through a door on one end of the stage and immediately comes out from another door at the other end, Angier becomes obsessed with obtaining its secret and will not rest until he knows it.
Nothing is what it seems in this film. For those interested in magic, this may be a film worth watching, as it presents a good perspective on the life of magicians in the early 20th century. For the rest of us, it’s a film that tries too hard to impress, shock and keep you in the dark right until the very last minute, there are so many twists that after some point it gets tiring to keep track of what’s going on since you know the next twist will make all this effort worthless.
©2008 by Miguel Grinberg
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