SNMR 7.4: "The Prestige"

GREEN'S "EVERY MAGIC TRICK HAS THREE PARTS" REVIEW:

Friends and colleagues, Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) are a duo of aspiring magicians, until a trick goes bad and Angier's wife drowns before she can be rescued. After this incident, Angier and Borden become enemies and arch rivals, each trying to be the best magician that the world has ever seen. Olivia (Scarlett Johansson) becomes Angier's beautiful new assistant but eventually switches sides and becomes Borden's assistant, telling him all of Angier's secrets in the process.

Ladies and gentlemen, for our next magic trick I will make this film disappear! Yeah, I wish. As you can tell I didn't like this film at all. I thought it was too long and that the performances of Jackman and Bale were flat and uninspiring.

I'm really not sure what to make of Hugh Jackman as an actor. Do I like him or not? Can't be sure at this point. Christian Bale seems to be in just about everything these days. He was good in the two "Batman" films and as John Connor in "Terminator: Salvation" and decent in "Public Enemies." Michael Caine does give a fairly good, typically steady performance as Cutter, the engineer behind Angier's more complicated tricks and the voice of reason. The actor playing Nikola Tesla seemed familiar to me but I could not place where I had seen him before. Turns out the part was played by David Bowie. Perhaps the reason I didn't recognize him was because the part gave no room for the flamboyancy I normally associate with David Bowie's acting gigs. Scarlett Johansson is a fine actress but sadly her talents are all but wasted in this movie.

Maybe the reason I didn't care for this movie has to do with what I consider to be a weak script or maybe it has to do with Christopher Nolan's uninspired, bland directing. The film is set in 1890's London and the costumes and sets reflect a dreary, depressing, kind of morbid London. Perhaps that's why I didn't like this movie. Yeah, that's it.

I had no desire to check out the DVD extras for this film. Normally I enjoy the bonus material. I'd pass on this one if I were you.

*½ out of *****

The Prestige (2006, PG-13, 130 minutes) starring Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson, Michael Caine, Rebecca Hall, David Bowie and Andy Serkis. The screenplay was written by Christopher and Jonathan Nolan. The film was directed by Christopher Nolan.