the prestige
I don’t think my expectations were very high for this one because i was confused by the trailer. it was vague and had the feel of a flick that could swing from awesome all the way down to shitty in full-length. as p.fish would say, it looked like “batman begins again”. i was pleasantly surprised. the screenplay is great. time shifts and dual plot-lines drive the story and the twists are sweet.
Bale and Jackman put on a great show with a pretty sweet secondary cast. even Bowie takes on a money roll. Johansson’s good eye candy and Caine can always lay down a mint performance. the visuals are epic and the clothes seemed to nail down the period. there’s not a lot to say to down this flick because there were no stand-out shitty roles and no gaping holes or painful dialogue in the story.
The movie kept me guessing. it took a little while to catch wind of Bale’s secret and i didn’t understand Jackman’s until almost the very end. it sped the way to a dramatic climax and intriguing resolution. the rivalry between the two characters is intense. they’re dichotomous down to their handedness. the quest for Bale’s secret drives Jackman to great lengths and halfway around the world.
i should have expected more going in, but didn’t know Nolan had written it until i was on the way out. after memento, insomnia, and batman begins i should have known it would have been up my alley. he’s like M. Night Shyamalan when he worked with Willis.
****