I watched The Prestige the other day. I found it to be a dark, unpleasant film. As soon as it was done, I wanted to put it back into its envelope and hurry it back to Netflix touching as little of the disc as possible. One of the things I disliked was its cynicism, as if filmmaking has exhausted itself and there is nothing left to do except to manipulate and jerk around an audience. I guess that shouldn't be too surprising considering it was directed by Chris (Memento) Nolan. Further, The Prestige portrays life as an extreme political act/performance... it's reminiscent of the Ender's Game sequels in this regard, where everyone is constantly on guard, vigilant, living life as a facade. I found the rivalry between the two magicians almost unintentionally funny, like watching Mad Magazine's Spy vs. Spy come to life. This film reminded me a bit of The da Vinci code (the book, not the film). It's really engaging and well-crafted in a certain way, but afterwards it just seems ridiculous.
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