For all the hype being spilled on this year’s crop of Oscar front-runners, I think much of it is misplaced, having now seen Christopher Nolan’s THE PRESTIGE, an outstanding adaptation of Christopher Priest’s outstanding 1995 novel. Not only is the film visual storytelling at its best, but also a sterling example of a seemingly-impossible-to-adapt novel making a triumphant journey to the big screen without artistic compromise.

Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale star as warring Victorian magicians, both two-bit tricksters whose rise to fame is marked by constant one-upsmanship and sabotage. At first, they’re friends, until an onstage mistake by one results in the tragic death of the other’s loved one. From then, they’re bitter enemies, and the stakes are raised when one conjures the ultimate illusion – one with which the other become obsessed.

If any more plot was revealed – for the film or the book – it’d be all but ruined. The joy is in letting its labyrinthian turns twist your brain every which way. If you thought Nolan’s MEMENTO was an enigma, it’s a kindergartener’s board puzzle compared to this giant jigsaw.

Nolan adheres closely to Priest’s narrative, even if it jettisons the modern-day wraparound and the progressive weakening of one magician; neither are missed. As with Priest’s telling in print, the way the story unfolds onscreen is nothing short of masterful. And once you see it, you’re going to want to see it again just to see if the clues were there all along. I’d read the book less than two years ago, and I still couldn’t completely predict what was coming.

But don’t think it’s a one-trick pony; this is no M. Night Shyamalan gimmick where the emperor has no clothes. There’s a real richness to the plot – inherent in the novel and elevated with the sumptuous visuals. Jackman and Bale wear their roles quite well; Jackman actually gets to act for a change and Bale strengthens his rep as one of our more intense but under-the-radar thespians. As a woman who comes between them, Scarlett Johansson doesn’t have much to do but serve as window dressing, but what nice-looking window dressing it is.

Ready-made for endless discussions and unjustly ignored upon its release – not to mention awards season – THE PRESTIGE is one of the very best films from 2006, spurring from the pages of one the very best novels I’ve read in this decade. –Rod Lott

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This entry was posted on Sunday, February 18th, 2007 at 9:03 pm and is filed under DVD Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.