I chose to review a review of the Prestige off rottentomatoes. The review I read was by David Ansen from Newsweek. This is a story of a rivalry between two great magicians. Each one of them are always creating new tricks that just fuel the rivalry between them and it forces them to keep outdoing each other. Ansen believes that the film is very clever with all of the twists and turns that it has to offer. I completely agree with him, one of the reasons I love this movie is that it always keeps you guessing and it will keep you wanting more. Ansen mentions that there are three huge twists in the film.
At the end of this dark entertainment three twists await: one you will certainly see coming, another you may have figured out just before it happens, and the final may be so tricky you won't quite piece it all together until after you've left the theater (the "explanation" whizzes by so fast it can be hard to catch.) Take the movie's first words to heart: watch closely. You'll be well rewarded.These three twists in my opinion make the film amazing. You see the first twist and you think to yourself, yes I saw that coming. Then you see the next one and you think, wow that was sweet and I never would have guessed that. But then at the end of the movie you are kind of confused with the last one and and you can't stop thinking about what happened. I myself have my own theories about it and I argue with others who have seen the movie about what really happened. Ansen also calls the movie dark in his quote and I could not agree more. I think there are multiple things that make this movie very dark. First Borden, the more skillful magician causes the death of Angier's, the other magician, wife. Ansen thinks that Borden may have tied the knot in the trick that killed her a little to tight on purpose, but I disagree. I think that it was a complete accident even though it benefited Borden. This event would be the spark to ignite the huge rivalry between the two magicians. That is a pretty dark beginning to the movie but the darkest part of the film doesn't come till much later. In efforts to top Borden, Angier voyages to the U.S. to find a machine that does "real magic." This machine allows him to do an amazing trick, but at a horrible cost. I won't say exactly what the machine does, but it causes a sickness in your stomach that leaves you thinking about it all night.
Ansen describes Angier as being very sophisticated and describes Borden as more working class. He also says that Borden seems like kind of a bully and someone that will go to all lengths to become a great magician. I agree that Angier is more upper class than Borden, but I don't really think Borden seems much like a bully. I think that Borden is portrayed more as the "good guy" and someone who will make tremendous sacrifices for a great trick. At the end of Ansen's review he mentions the pledge, the turn, and the prestige. This is a big idea that gets us started with the movie, these are the components of a great trick. Ansen also mentions a question posed at the beginning or the film, "are you watching closely?" These are two things that are very important and if anyone was to go see the movie they need to definitely keep those in mind. I have agreed with most of Ansen's ideas other than a few, and I would recommend this movie to anyone, but if you decide to see it just make sure that you are in fact watching closely.
