The Prestige and The Pen

I'm a big fan of Christopher Nolan.  After directing (and co-writing) Memento I felt sure he was going to be worth keeping an eye out for and I'm glad that, for once, I got something right.  Insomnia was a gripping follow-up and then there was Batman Begins.  Ahh, Batman Begins - finally a Batman movie that didn't suck balls (Adam West excepted, he is, as always, a special case).

So it will surprise no-one that I was looking forward to The Prestige.  By the way, there will be no spoilers in this review (I hate it when people do that).

So first a quick summary of the story.  It's the end of the 19th century and our two stars are working as stooges for a rather dull stage magician.  Clearly they both have ambitions to one day have their own shows.  They eventually do, but not before the actions of one man causes tragedy for the other.  From this point on they are locked into a battle of one-upmanship that sends both men to extremes.

The leaps and jumps this film makes had me often trying to guess where we would be taken next or wondering what mad scheme they would try next.  On most occasions I felt like I was in the audience for one of their magic shows, sometimes surprised, sometimes not, but always intrigued.

The film is ultimately a fantasy about the suspension of disbelief - a subject that must be very appealing to both actors and scriptwriters, and they clearly relish telling this story.  Additionally it touches upon the themes of Nolan's previous films, the most notable being revenge and the damage it does to those who seek it.

The film is often beautifully shot with some great images.  The acting is as superb as you'd expect with this cast but Christian Bale shows once again that he's one of Britain's finest young actors.

I give it two thumbs up.  And a couple of toes as well.

Apart from seeing The Prestige I also went and got myself a graphics tablet.  I fancied doing some scribbling, doodling and generally trying to do something arty.

So I suppose you want to see a first effort?  Well OK then.  I wasn't feeling very inspired so I decided I'd nick an idea from a link to a Vox blog that taz put up today (click that link, it's good!).  Here it is:

Log