It's the matchup of the century, Batman vs. Wolverine, or Christian Bale vs. Hugh Jackman.
Jokes and the Joker aside, "The Prestige" pits these two fine actors against each other in a battle of magic at the turn of the 20th century.
"The Prestige" is about two magicians, Rupert Angier (Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Bale), who begin as fellow assistants to a magician, but once the wife of Angier dies in an on-stage accident, which Borden may have caused, the two become bitter rivals. Borden then develops a trick that Angier cannot figure out, and Angier is set down a path of obsession to find out how the trick is accomplished and begins to believe that Borden uses real magic.
Jackman gives a good performance throughout the film and makes for a sympathetic character, which makes his downfall all the more heartbreaking. Bale's performance seems uneven at first, but once the movie ends, it is a genius performance from an actor who is finally starting to get the recognition he rightly deserves.
It seems as if this character is an extension of the Bruce Wayne character Bale made with director Christopher Nolan because of Bale's frequent talks of duality and not being able to be oneself.
Michael Caine does his usual fine performance as a mentor for the two young magicians and a moral conscience for the film as it reaches the end. A nearly unrecognizable David Bowie is extremely mystical and magical in a surprisingly strong role for him as the mysterious magician Tesla.
Unfortunately, not everything is perfect, as Scarlett Johansson hams it up in any way possible and proves once again why she isn't a very good actress. Luckily, her character is not overused so we are not subjected to her performance all the time.
Nolan is on track to quickly becoming one of the world's finest directors, with films such as "Memento," "Batman Begins" and now "The Prestige." He uses a visual scheme closer to "Batman Begins" than "Memento" and yet still makes it seem different. In addition to directing the film, Nolan also co-wrote the screenplay with his brother. The script for the movie is one of its strongest assets as it keeps you guessing until the end and takes many surprising and unexpected turns.
With the release of "The Illusionist" a few months ago, there is inevitably going to be many comparisons. The two films are extremely hard to compare because "The Prestige" is more interested in the magic, mysticism and rivalry behind the magicians, whereas "The Illusionist" was more about a stereotypical love story.
A movie far more interesting to compare to "The Prestige" is Clive Barker's often forgotten, but decent "Lord of Illusion," which is similar in that it also involved using real magic. The major difference is "Lord of Illusion" uses the real magic as a basis for horror, whereas "The Prestige" uses it for dramatic and suspense purposes.
In the battle of comic book movie supremacy, Bale and Jackman make movie magic in this intelligent and great film that is sure to make you wonder how they did it.
