Fight the Fight

Not to be confused with The Illusionist, which does share the whole time-period / magician thing, The Prestige is a great movie starring Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Michael Cane, and Scarlet Johansson. I saw the preview, which made me want to see it. I saw the Illusionist, which made me want to see it more. I finally got around to it on a Sunday afternoon after more than two weeks of release.

After seeing it, I would have been very happy even if I’d paid full evening price. It’s a great movie in its story, its acting, and how well it pulls off the time it took place in.

It’s a basic story of the deadly sins wrath and envy taken very far in the world of London illusionists around the end of the 1800′s or the beginning of the 1900′s. It was nothing like I thought it would be after seeing the previews, but also very pleasantly surprised in how it was done. The story line moves back and fourth between the characters of Jackman and Bale in terms of time.

It’s a suspenseful ending that begs you to figure it out Kaiser Soze style. A lot of it has been in front of you the entire time, but it doesn’t completely unravel until the end (or if you figure it out). There are two major twists that have origins in the first few moments of the movie. I had the major part of it figured out at about the 50% mark, and the rest by the 80% mark – but I still enjoyed how it was all brought together. It was done very well, and I could see owning this movie. I’ll give it a very strong 7 of 10. Not award worthy, but very entertaining.