Rating of
4/4
Storytelling beyond compare
TheWolf - wrote on 07/25/07
When I went out to see The Prestige with a friend of mine, it was at his request. I hadn't seen anything on it, and I wasn't sure if it would be the kind of movie that I would fight to see. I had seen a lot of ads for the Illusionist and I was already under the impression that Hollywood was just trying to dump out as many magic films as it could before the next Harry Potter film could be released (even though it was 8 months away still). After walking in with no real knowledge of the film and no expectations, I have to admit that when it ended, I wanted to sneak into the next showing and watch it again. After having watched the movie, I found out that it was originally a book by Christopher Priest. I went out and bought the book the next week and started reading it. Let me be the first to tell you that this movie is a classic example of where a good screenplay can take a decent book, and turn it into something amazing! To be honest the book only has a couple similarities. The names of the characters are the same, and they go after eachother a number of times, but beyond that, they are entirely too different stories.
The thing that I liked the most about this film is that it is almost entirely story driven. There are some special effects, but they are not the highest focal point of the movie. Nearly everything in this film is about the story, and I really love that because there are so few good movies these days that can pull you in with its story and don't rely on too much filler to keep your attention.
To answer the question previously asked here by Alex, Yes it is just as good the second time, and the third, and the fourth...
