Friday, December 08, 2006

Movie Review: The Prestige

Two weeks ago, I went and saw The Prestige with Darth Spencer, Rumbler and TJ. It was really good. Its hard to review because you don't want to give anything away. Basically, its a cool story that takes place in an interesting context (19th Century magicians). There are all kinds of twists and turns, which keeps things interesting and keeps the audience guessing. I thought the film-making was quite nice. The cinematography, set design, and costumes were excellent, creating rich images of 19th Century England. And the editing/directing was masterful: the director managed to simultaneously tell the story from three different time periods without confusing the audience and without resorting to flashing dates up on the screen each time the time period changed. The acting was excellent and engaging. My only complaint is that the story seemed to leave a few loose ends, but that flaw is understandable considering how much subject matter the director managed to fit into the 2 hours. Overall, I would highly recommend this movie.

6 comments:

Spencer Davis said...

I ordered The Prestige off of Audible and am really enjoying it. There are actually quite a few differences from the movie. So far, I have enjoyed the movie more, but I am yet to finish the book. I'll keep you all informed.

Even though I missed the first 15 minutes, I loved the movie. I can't wait to see it agian.

3703 said...

Musing Ian, I was there and was taken away to a fantasy land only to learn that this land was here on earth. I was inspired to try and learn magic and even science. Anything to trick people.

I was also impressed by the editing and the time frames. It kept me involved because the movie felt like a work in progress where I could keep guessing and each segment would confirm or distort my prediction. But the center of the lollipop was worth every lick (:

I am also glad I didn't miss the first fifteen minutes.

Ian said...

I have started listening to the audiobook too, and I quite like it. It is different enough that it is still interesting, and it goes into much greater detail about the characters and their stories.

And Rumbler, when you got to the center of the lolipop, did you get what you expected? Or did the lolipop industry, by its own slight of hand, suprise you with a magical ending (a tootsie roll or bubble gum center, perhaps), after making you believe that the whole lolipop would be just like the candy exterior? A fine prestige in its own right.

cblakes said...

cool, I'm excited to see this movie, as your tastes in film have my respect. Thanks for the review.

Katie @SwimBikeQuilt said...

Did you ever hear about our attempt to see The Prestige? It was the last pre-Lucas moviem and we were really excited about it (had seen the previews). However, when we looked up the movie times online, I saw who the actors were. I distinctly remembered from the previews that there were some good looking actors (i.e. Christian Bale--who could forget him?), and Edward Norton just didn't cut it. I told Jayme I thought it was the wrong movie, but we decided I must have been mistaken. When we got to the theater, a preview for the Prestige came on. We laughed and laughed. We had gone to see The Illiusionist instead. Since when are there two magician movies out at the same time? We still enjoyed the Illusionist, Edward Norton and all.

Katie said...

That's way funny Katie. Our "pre-Grace" movie was the Ant Bully, which we do not recommend. We did love the movie Cars. This was our first movie with Grace. Unfortunately, it didn't go very well. Needless to say she hasn't been back to a movie since!