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Review #293 of 365
Film: The Prestige [2] (2006) [PG-13] 128 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $14.50
Where Viewed: United Artists Denver Pavilions Stadium 15, Denver, CO
When 2nd Seen: 31 October 2006
Time: 10:45 p.m.
Film's Official Website
DVD Release Date: unscheduled
Directed by: Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins)
Screenplay by: Jonathan Nolan (Memento) and Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins) based on the novel by Christopher Priest (The Book on the Edge of Forever)
Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him/Her From):
Hugh Jackman (Scoop) • Christian Bale (The New World) • Michael Caine (The Weather Man) • Piper Perabo (Imagine Me & You) • Rebecca Hall ("McLeod's Daughters") • Scarlett Johansson (The Black Dahlia) • David Bowie (The Man Who Fell to Earth) • Andy Serkis (King Kong) • Roger Rees (Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties)
Soundtrack: Download now from 
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Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word or less review of this film]
NOTE: SPOILER ALERTThis review contains spoilers as well as the solution to the cipher puzzle given in the first review at movieEVERYday.com for The Prestige. Please click here to read the first review and to avoid spoilers unless you like the ending spoiled or have some questions you would like answered.
Advice for a Second Viewing of The Prestige:
(a) Do see it a second time, especially if you were, at any point, lost in the time shifting format. A second time reveals a lot of hidden things.
(b) Pay attention to the opening shot this time.
(c) Follow Fallon's every move this time.
(d) Pay attention to the affection between Borden and Sarah and Borden, or whom you think is Borden but is really Fallon, and Olivia.
(e) Look into Tesla's eyes—you'll see David Bowie, at last, with is one blue and one brown eye.
(f) See if you can figure out who actually gets hung in the gallows? Is it Borden or Fallon? Do the two men even know who is who? When Alfred is disguised as Fallon, his twin would therefore refer to him as Alfred and Alfred to him as Fallon. But at the very end, you'll notice that, in the near monologue he offers to Angier to explain it all, he says "I was the one who loved Sarah." Does this establish that Fallon was the one put to death, and explain his cavalier approach having nearly given over his entire life to Alfred as it was? Meanwhile, notice this time the implications of Sarah noticing that sometimes Alfred says "I love you," but he doesn't mean it. Well, of course not, it's not him. She's picked up on it, but doesn't realize it. Even with the clue of the second round of bleeding fingers when they had to chop off Fallon's fingers to match Alfred's, etc.
(b) Pay attention to the opening shot this time.
(c) Follow Fallon's every move this time.
(d) Pay attention to the affection between Borden and Sarah and Borden, or whom you think is Borden but is really Fallon, and Olivia.
(e) Look into Tesla's eyes—you'll see David Bowie, at last, with is one blue and one brown eye.
(f) See if you can figure out who actually gets hung in the gallows? Is it Borden or Fallon? Do the two men even know who is who? When Alfred is disguised as Fallon, his twin would therefore refer to him as Alfred and Alfred to him as Fallon. But at the very end, you'll notice that, in the near monologue he offers to Angier to explain it all, he says "I was the one who loved Sarah." Does this establish that Fallon was the one put to death, and explain his cavalier approach having nearly given over his entire life to Alfred as it was? Meanwhile, notice this time the implications of Sarah noticing that sometimes Alfred says "I love you," but he doesn't mean it. Well, of course not, it's not him. She's picked up on it, but doesn't realize it. Even with the clue of the second round of bleeding fingers when they had to chop off Fallon's fingers to match Alfred's, etc.
A review for the second time around:
The Prestige stands up well to a second viewing, and a careful second viewing, now that you know the biggest twist of all…Alfred and Fallon are twins in disguise, two men sharing one life to use Alfred's words. In fact, it makes the film all the more intriguing in some ways, knowing now what's going on, as it becomes easier to see the implications. Why is Alfred so able to easily understand the magic of the Chinese magician who pretends to be crippled all the time so no one will figure out how he does the fishbowl trick? Ah ha. Why does 'Alfred' before he jumps to his hanging death say, "Abracadabra"? It's all so clear now. In the meantime, it becomes easier to see that this film, while at first glance seems to be a 50-50 competition between Borden and Angier, in reality, this is a story about Alfred/Fallon. Angier just gets in the mix. Was it Fallon who tied the wrong knot killing Angier's wife? All implications are that it was. It frees Alfred from the guilt, explains his inability to explain which know was tied, and later makes sense of why Fallon is willing to die in the gallows to repay his own accidental death of Julia. The torment that is Alfred's life becomes more easily understood from the beginning knowing now that he and his brother are always on guard, in disguise, and living in secret. The incredible acting job that Christian Bale does to carefully reveal without revealing the two sides of Borden that exist not because he has a split personality; but because, he really is two people, proves quite a bit more remarkable. And, again, the second viewing allows for an easier decision that Angier is the worse of the two men, which doesn't come through as strongly on the first viewing. A second turn shows that while Fallon is responsible for the accidental death of Julie and he does ruin a few of Angier's tricks including causing him to have a nasty fall, Angier has a far longer list of crimes: pre-meditated assault of Border during the bullet catch, stealing his Transported Man trick, sending his assistant to steal Borden's trick, stealing Borden's journal, duplicating and killing his double time and time again, framing Borden for his murder, allowing Fallon to die despite the fact that he did not commit murder, and plotting to take Borden's daughter and raise her as his own. Truly, this time around, he comes across as far more obsessed, far more devious, and the far worse villain of the three.
The importance of Michael Caine's character to the story comes through a bit stronger, as does the caliber of his performance. Through and through, however, all of the acting in this film is masterful. With so many of the characters leading dual lives or being exposed to them without knowing, it must have been a great deal of fun to play these roles. Moreover, the brilliance of Christopher Nolan's direction of this intricate and magic-filled film shines brightly. The Prestige is an outstanding film on the order of The Sixth Sense.
The importance of Michael Caine's character to the story comes through a bit stronger, as does the caliber of his performance. Through and through, however, all of the acting in this film is masterful. With so many of the characters leading dual lives or being exposed to them without knowing, it must have been a great deal of fun to play these roles. Moreover, the brilliance of Christopher Nolan's direction of this intricate and magic-filled film shines brightly. The Prestige is an outstanding film on the order of The Sixth Sense.
Now, in my first review, as I often like to write some specialty reviews or hide puzzles in my reviews when appropriate, I posed the following The Prestige-related cipher puzzle for readers. If you have tried and cannot solve it, here is the solution at last.
The Pledge
"…the magician shows you something ordinary; but, of course, it probably isn't."
The Turn
"…the magician makes this ordinary something do something extraordinary.
The Caesar's Cipher allows you to transform
P•I•P•E•R•P•E•R•A•B•O into a second cipher: H•T•P•H•H•A•Z•K•L•J•N
Not sure how to do this? Ok, Caesar's Ciphers work by giving a key word, in the case of Borden's journal it was TESLA, that then tell you how many letters in the alphabet to shift to turn one letter into another. So, if the cipher key were TESLA, you would shift the first letter according to the following scheme (0 for A, 1 for B, 2 for C and so on). So, the first letter would be shifted by 19 spots. To make my cipher work, I used a numerical cipher first, which is a lot easier. You shift P by 18 spots to get H, I by 11 spots to get T, P by 0 spots to get P, and so on. This conversion gives a new Caesar Cipher, this time one that is based on letters. So, in our final word, we would shift the first letter by 7 spots, so A would become H. Try it now.
The Prestige
"…the twists and turns, where lives hang in the balance, and you see something shocking, that you've never seen before."
If you followed the cipher key correctly, you should have converted ABRACADABRA into HUGHJACKMAN.
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Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
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Other Projects Featuring The Prestige (2006)
Cast Members
Hugh Jackman
• Christian Bale • Michael CainePiper Perabo
• Rebecca Hall • Scarlett JohanssonDavid Bowie
• Andy Serkis • Roger ReesDirector
Christopher Nolan
Writer
Jonathan Nolan
Novelist
Christopher Priest
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The Prestige (2006) Review-lite [150-word cap]
British brothers Christopher and Jonathan Nolan, creators of Memento, have demonstrated a penchant for stories that challenge audiences chronologically, play mind tricks, and reveal shocking thriller-style endings that will have people talking for years. Their latest effort, The Prestige, starts off with the accidental drowning of stage hand, Rupert Angier's (Hugh Jackman) wife and magician's assistant, Julia (Piper Perabo), at the hands of a possibly tied wrong knot by friend and fellow stage hand, Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) and quickly turns into an all out obsessive competition between the two as they emerge from the wreckage world-class illusionists trying to out do each other on stage while simultaneously destroying the other's livelihood. The moral implications of this film take time to settle in. Brilliantly, the script follows the three parts of a magician's illusion and continues to eventually reveal the biggest twists of all. Follow the red rubber bouncing ball.
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