Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman and Scarlett Johansson in the Christopher Nolan movie ‘The Prestige’

Magic was in the air when it came to the Christopher Nolan directed film named The Prestige (2006). Based on the 1995 Christopher Priest novel named The Prestige, this screenplay co-written by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan follows a pair of magicians through London of the late nineteenth century as their careers separate into rivalry following a tragic stage accident early in their collective careers.

(From left, Michael Caine as John Cutter, a stage engineer who works with Robert Angier and Alfred Borden with Hugh Jackman as Robert Angier, aka Lord Caldlow, aka The Great Danton, an aristocrat magician in the Christopher Nolan movie The Prestige).

Rival magicians Robert Angier and Alfred Borden began their early careers working for Milton the Magician and stage engineer John Cutter. Cutter follows the careers of Borden and Angier after a tragic accident on the stage of Milton the Magician, wherein Angier’s wife, Julia McCullough, drowns in a water tank accident wherein she could not free herself from a tied knot around her wrists and execute the escape. An escalating obsession with developing the best illusion and blame forms between the two from that moment, which informs the remaining direction of the film.

(Christian Bale as Alfred Borden in the Christopher Nolan movie The Prestige).

Hugh Jackman portrayed Robert Angier, opposite Christian Bale‘s portrayal of Alfred Borden and Bernard Fallon. Ricky Jay portrayed Milton the Magician to Michael Caine‘s portrayal of John Cutter. Piper Perabo portrayed Julia McCullough, Milton the Magician’s assistant and Robert Angier’s wife. Through the magical rivalry of the careers of Robert Angier and Alfred Borden, Scarlett Johansson portrayed Olivia Wenscombe, an assistant to both magicians.

(From left, Piper Perabo as Julia McCullough, an assistant to Milton the Magician and Robert Angier’s wife, beside Scarlett Johansson as Olivia Wenscombe, an assistant to Robert Angier and Alfred Borden, in the Christopher Nolan movie The Prestige).

In the aftermath of McCullough’s death, Angier and Borden launch their own magic careers. Angier works with Cutter as Borden works with the mysterious Fallon. The rivalry takes an insidious turn to sabotage when Angier slips a live bullet into Borden’s gun for a bullet-catch trick. The sabotage leads Borden to lose two fingers in the incident, later sabotaging the disappearing bird act for Angier by killing the bird on stage and injuring an audience member that had volunteered to assist.

(From left, David Bowie as Nikola Tesla, the real-life inventor who creates a teleportation device for Angier, and Andy Serkis as Mr. Alley, Tesla’s assistant in the Christopher Nolan movie The Prestige).

The competitive illusion rivalry escalates to an act called the Transported Man, wherein the performer appears to travel instantly between two wardrobes on opposite ends of the stage. Angier asks his assistant, Olivia Wenscombe, to spy upon Borden’s version of the trick while approaching real-life inventor Nikola Tesla, as conjured through the beauty of the fictional story of The Prestige, to build a legitimate form of transportation. David Bowie portrayed Tesla. Andy Serkis portrayed Tesla‘s assistant, Mr. Alley. Olivia in part led Angier to Tesla, despite Angier’s obsession to surpass Borden having moved past a sense of love by Angier for his deceased wife.

(Christian Bale as Bernard Fallon and Rebecca Hall as Sarah Borden, as Alfred Borden’s wife in the Christopher Nolan movie The Prestige).

Through the story, the full commitment that Alfred Borden and his assistant, Bernard Fallon, have to their own obsession with illusion exacts a price between Borden and his wife, Sarah Borden, and their child, Jess Borden. A further price is exacted on Borden himself, which reveals legitimately dark and exacting truths for the three Bordens, Fallon, and Angier himself. In an exactness and execution of story that truly strikes me as magical, the layers of truth, lies and commitment to personal truths that come to light only through a murder trial give this movie a true impact and resonance for me. Rebecca Hall portrayed Sarah Borden. Samantha Mahurin portrayed Jess Borden.

(From left, director Christopher Nolan and actor Hugh Jackman in the Christopher Nolan movie The Prestige).

The Prestige serves as a definitive achievement of storytelling that deserves your viewing and appreciation. The underlying story itself is an accomplishment, with enough of a departure in the fictional means of what was accomplished within to allow me to recommend reading the book as well. My rating for The Prestige as directed by Christopher Nolan is 4.5-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Wednesday, March 16, 2022

Ben Affleck, Jeremy Renner and the film ‘The Town’

There were the towns of Charlestown and Boston in Massachusetts, serving as characters just as distinctly as the people in the movie The Town (2010). There was the notion of burglary, armored trucks, banks, and Fenway Park serving as places just as distinctly as there were funny notions of love and loyalty. Finally, there was the resolution of criminals fighting the notion of getting pinched, all tracing back to the source story for The Town, based on the book Prince of Thieves by Chuck Hogan.

(Slaine as Albert ‘Gloansy’ Magloan, Ben Affleck as Doug MacRay, Jeremy Renner as James Coughlin, and Owen Burke as Desmond Elden in The Town).

Ben Affleck plays Doug MacRay and Jeremy Renner plays James Coughlin, two members of a four member burglary set with Albert ‘Gloansy’ Magloan and Desmond Elden who rob banks and armored vehicles for money as a relatively practiced and efficient burglary ring having grown up in Charlestown. There is definite history among the group, which is revealed with suggested emotional depth through the film that at times is undersold by through the film. Renner is especially convincing in his role as Thomas Coughlin.

(Jon Hamm as FBI S.A. Adam Frawley, left, and Rebecca Hall as Claire Keesey in The Town).

After a burglary that includes the taking of a hostage, Doug MacRay takes a love interest in Claire Keesey, as played by Rebecca Hall. Seeing connections between this robbery and the organization run out of the flower business of a notorious criminal run by Fergus ‘Fergie’ Colm, FBI S.A. Adam Frawley and Dino Ciampa land pursue the criminals.

(Pete Postlethwaite as Fergus ‘Fergie’ Colm, top, and Dennis McLaughlin as Rusty in The Town).

Jon Hamm plays FBI S.A. Adam Frawley while Pete Postlethwaite plays Fergus ‘Fergie’ Colm. Rusty aids Colm in the delivery of messages as appropriate in service of the larger enterprise, which eventually turns to the large heist that The Town is leading towards. The backdrop of their illegal enterprise is the store front of the flower shop run by Colm.

(Left to right: Chris Cooper as Doug MacRay’s father Stephen MacRay, Blake Lively as James Coughlin’s sister and Doug MacRay’s baby mother Krista Coughlin, and Titus Welliver as Dino Ciampa, who grew up in Charlestown and serves as assistant to Adam Frawley in The Town).

Besides the tension of the burglary, pressure to pull another heist, and the pull of family for James and Krista Coughlin, Doug and Stephen MacRay, and the added love angle with varying degrees of loyalty, time spent in jail, and the depths that some have gone and will go for these different constructs, that the past as well as place pull on each of these run deep. Even FBI man Dino Ciampa bears baggage in this tale, and the resonance is there and communicated well. That many of these culminate in a crowning jewel to these points in the story of Boston, and specifically Fenway Park, reinforces the larger pathos of many of these points in the story.

(Ben Affleck as Doug MacRay and Jeremy Renner as James Coughlin outside Fenway Park in The Town).

The emotion and the questions underpinning this story are winners governing the telling of this story. The hardest part for me in giving the telling of this story through the cinematic telling of The Town is that I never believed Ben Affleck as Doug MacRay. It simply feels to me like Affleck wanted this role along with the telling of this story too much. The emotion of the character, as I felt, never really rang true for me. For a movie that I very much wanted to rate higher, I give The Town 3.50-stars on a scale of one-to-five.

Matt – Monday, December 16, 2019