Made in 2006, The Prestige surfed the wave of stories about magicians in the early 2000s (cf The Illusionist and Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell). Director Nolan's trademarks are all present and correct - a certain precision to the cinematography, an unworldly feel to the score, an out of kilter take on a familiar story, and even draws upon his repertory of actors.The result is an involving, if not quite top drawer Nolan, story of two rivals each taking ever greater risks to outdo the other. Perhaps inevitably, because it's a tale of magicians, we aren't clued into what's really going on until almost the very end either. The final part, the so-called Prestige, is where the real magic happens - and it's deliciously meta.
The only odd point for me is Bale's extraordinary accent. In one on-the-nose conversation, a character calls his character out for performing - and I found myself nodding, but for entirely different reasons. Admittedly, he does have a uniquely difficult role to play, but I'm not sure the accent helped at all.
Verdict: Twisty plotted Nolan at his near best.
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