The Lincoln Log

Directed by Christopher Nolan, “The Prestige” is set in Victorian London in a place filled with magic and suspense. A rather complex story, “The Prestige” illustrates the story of two rival magicians – with Christian Bale as Alfred Borden and Hugh Jackman as Robert Angier – who, with success, become so absorbed in the competition to become the best magicians of all time, the rivalry between the two become deadly. The fine line between illusions and real magic are blurred and everything is sacrificed to attempt the impossible.

As explained in the movie, the title refers to the third act of a magic trick – where all the illusions take place and the audience tries to figure out the magician’s secret. In “The Prestige”, many illusionist terms are used and explained, and the whole movie becomes rather real, as if it were happening in your own place and time, somewhere not too far away.

Full of twists and turns, puzzles and riddles, well-played characters, and incredible scenery, this is definitely a must-see. However, the heavy accents and regularly mumbled dialogues make it hard to understand, as well as the strange configuration of the movie. Composed of flashes back and forth between three different periods of time tended to distract me, but in spite of this, the movie actually comes together quite well.

The main problem in this movie for me was its length of 2 hours, 8 minutes, which I believe was completely far too stretched out. “The Prestige” becomes just a little repetitive and dull at around the middle of the movie, and the length of the movie is not used to its best advantage as time is occasionally wasted on useless scenes instead of explaining important and confusing plots. Perhaps the point of that was to leave it to the viewer’s imagination, but if that was the point, it came off as sloppiness to me. I loved the whole idea of magicians and magic – something so mysterious and secretive that your heart becomes set on trying to find out the secret behind each magic trick. Whenever a trick was performed in this movie, I didn’t instantly go, “Oh, it’s movie magic,” but thought and wondered, becoming more and more engrossed with the plot with each passing minute.

The acting was unbelievably cast; the well-known actors and actresses took on their roles perfectly. Each character managed to come to life in each scene and by the end of the movie, it felt as if I had been in it with them the whole time. Though “The Prestige” may not have been perfect all the way through, it was enjoyable enough for me to leave completely satisfied. For those who need a good movie to dream and wonder about, this is the movie for you.

Rated PG-13, 2 hours, 8 min.,