The Prestige: magic trick reveals too early

Glad it was 2 for 1 Orange Wednesday last night. The Prestige had received some good reviews but at the end of it I didn't think it quite deserved the acclaim. The cast list was great - Hugh Jackman (Wolfman to Kerry), Christian Bale (Batman), Michael Caine (Batman's butler), Scarlett Johansson, Andy Serkis (Gollum) and David bloody Bowie all directed by Christopher Nolan who did Momento & Batman. All good on paper and the film got more interesting as more clues revealed themselves.

Nolan and Jackman start off as assistants/stooges for magic acts before developing their own performances. The wife of Jackman's charcter dies after drowning in a trick which Nolan tied the ropes to her. He can't remember if he tied a different knot which could have caused her death so Jackman blames him for murder. Before that though we see Jackman dying after his 'final' act but that's just the tease to find out what actually happened before and after. Bowie plays some strange (but real)scientist called Tesla who's experimenting with electricity with Serkis as his assistant. Bowie's accent was just weird - I didn't know whether he was Scottish or South African. The plot twists around engaging you but by too obvious giveaways and easy guesswork, we predicted the ending long before. The last 20 minutes were just to summarise what actually happened to the dumbf&cks who didn't get it. A shame really as there were some great touches as the two magicians tried to out do each other either by their own trick or spoil the other.