The Prestige

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Year:	2006
Country of origin:	USA / UK
Director:	Christopher Nolan
Genre:	Intricate thriller
Starring:	Hugh Jackman,  Christian Bale, Michael Caine
Rating:	5/5
IMDB link:	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0482571/
Tagline:	A Rivalry That Turned Deadly.
Favourite line:	"Are you watching closely?"

Did you ever wonder if magic really exists?

The plot:
“Every great magic trick consists of three parts. The first part is called "The Pledge". The magician shows you something ordinary: a deck of cards, a bird or a man. He shows you this object. Perhaps he asks you to inspect it to see if it is indeed real, unaltered, normal. But of course... it probably isn't. The second act is called "The Turn". The magician takes the ordinary something and makes it do something extraordinary. Now you're looking for the secret... but you won't find it, because of course you're not really looking. You don't really want to know. You want to be fooled. But you wouldn't clap yet. Because making something disappear isn't enough; you have to bring it back. That's why every magic trick has a third act, the hardest part, the part we call "The Prestige".”
Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) is considered by some to be the best magician in the business. Having performed ‘The Transported Man’ to stunned audiences, a trick which saw him walk into one door, only to appear some twenty metres away instantly, Borden’s life is thrown into turmoil when he is imprisoned for the murder of his arch rival, Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman).
Inferior in craft, but burningly ambitious, Angier uses every avenue available to match the skill of his fellow magic man, and achieves great success with his follow-up trick, an extension of the original called The Real Transported Man.
But who is tricking who?

Nolan’s adaptation of a novel by Christopher Priest, this is thoughtful stuff, not afraid to take its time, placing each piece of the logic puzzle in place before the big reveal comes at the end.
Or does it?
Woven with the finesse of a master craftsman, every scene, every line of dialogue, every look exchanged between characters is significant, and would surely only develop the enjoyment of the piece on repeat viewing, once the mystery is solved.
Bale is in British mode this time around, a Cockney drawl that isn’t a million miles away from Statham territory, and it works just fine.
Huge Assman pulls off his own little miracle, by actually delivering a performance that is credible outside of the Marvel Universe, and is a decent enough foil.
Studied, intelligent and well-honed, this is thinking man’s fodder, with nerry an explosion nor action scene, instead the drama unfolding gently, dialogue the tool of choice.
Reluctant to say much more, for fear of spoilers.
So I’ll end it there.
Just watch it, will ya?