Things I'll Love Forever: The Prestige

Y'ever hear that question, "Which is better: the book, or the movie?" I absolutely hate that question. Hate it, hate it, hate it. Ultimately, it's meaningless. Sure, MOST movie adaptations of books suck harder than a jet-engine powered vacuum cleaner, but not EVERY adaptation is terrible. When the person making the adaptation gets it right, they learn to adjust the story from the book as needed to play to the strengths of the movie format.

Some movies blow it. Some get it right. Some get it so right that the movie actually TRANSCENDS the source material.

Take, for example, Christopher Nolan's The Prestige. Now, there's a book out there by Christopher Priest, and it's pretty good. But the movie... oh, I LOVE the movie.

I can't tell you exactly why without getting into a few spoilers, but the movie's gettin' on five years old, so it's kinda your own fault if you don't know this stuff by now.

1 - The movie itself works a lot like a magician's illusion - at least as magic tricks play out in the constraints of the story. Christopher Nolan starts the story at the end - pretty much telling you what he's going to do like a magician announcing that he's going to pull a rabbit from a hat. The non-linear nature of the story serves as misdirection, and the twist... oh, the twists are delicious. All the hints are there, but they usually don't register until the final reveal at the end - and you're kinda left wondering how Nolan did it.

2 - Unlike The Sixth Sense, which has a pretty well-executed twist ending but doesn't really merit more than two or three views, The Prestige holds up to repeated viewings - partly because of HOW MANY subtle, clever hints are scattered throughout the movie. The ENTIRE time, all of the characters are telling you EXACTLY what's going on, but, for the most part, you don't realize their doing it. Part of the reason is that what Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale are actually doing behind the scenes is SO bizarre that you don't actually WANT to know. As Michael Caine says, "You want to be fooled."

3 - The Prestige is full of my favorite actors. Scarlett Johansson... not so much. But Christian Bale, Michael Cain... even David Bowie and Andy Serkis put in great turns. And speaking of actors...

4 - I'm not a huge fan of Hugh Jackman. I like the guy well enough as Wolverine, and Kate and Leopold was... terrible. However, this is BY FAR his best performance as far as I'm concerned. There's a scene where Jackman plays both the magician Angier and his physical double, the drunken Root. I LOVE how well Root is able to imitate Angier - but that shouldn't be a surprise, since it's still Hugh Jackman. What really catches my attention, though, is the condescension Jackman throws in while playing Root who's playing Angier. It's delightfully chilling, and, as far as I'm concerned, one of the pivotal scenes in the whole movie.

5 - Christopher Nolan seems to like to make "thinking movies." Inception wasn't quite as smart as everyone seems to think it was, but there are a lot of deep themes hidden behind the heisty action. Even The Dark Knight aspires to be more than a super hero slap fest. To me, The Prestige is all about identity - how fluid and transcient it can be. See the Root scene I referenced above or... heck, ANY of the major plot twists.

6 - I like me some dark entertainment, and The Prestige is wonderfully dark and atmospheric. The tone's set right from the beginning with a magic show that goes horribly wrong and continues straight through to Thom Yorke's haunting song "Analyse" at the conclusion.

The Prestige asks if you're watching closely. You'd better, because it's totally worth it, and that's why I love it forever.