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The Prestige

The Prestige (2006)

tomatometer

76

Average Rating: 7.1/10
Reviews Counted: 188
Fresh: 142 | Rotten: 46

Full of twists and turns, The Prestige is a dazzling period piece that never stops challenging the audience.

59

Average Rating: 6.2/10
Critic Reviews: 41
Fresh: 24 | Rotten: 17

Full of twists and turns, The Prestige is a dazzling period piece that never stops challenging the audience.

audience

90

liked it
Average Rating: 3.9/5
User Ratings: 490,582

My Rating

Movie Info

Obsession, jealousy, and deceit define the tense relationship shared between two turn-of-the-century magicians in Memento and Batman Begins director Christopher Nolan's dizzying tale of sleight of hand. Rupert Angier (Hugh Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) are London-based magicians of the highest order, both blessed with spectacular powers of deception and both cursed with unrelenting envy for one another's skills. When Alfred performs an awe-inspiring trick for which there seems no

Feb 20, 2007

$53.0M

Buena Vista Pictures

Cast

All Critics (189) | Top Critics (41) | Fresh (152) | Rotten (46) | DVD (35)

The film is never less than engaging, though considering that the title The Prestige refers to the moment in a magic act that gives it its "wow" factor, it's kind of a shame that the ultimate "reveal" in the movie is a little too tricky for its own good.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: NPR.org | Comment
NPR.org
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It's quite a movie -- atmospheric, obsessive, almost satanic.

September 7, 2007 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | Comments (2)
Chicago Sun-Times
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Jackman and Bale give standout performances as rivals whose mutual obsession destroys all sense of perspective and ruins lives.

October 25, 2006 Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | Comment
Ebert & Roeper
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The film is lavishly mounted, set-wise, costume-wise, makeup-wise and special-effects-wise. But the magicians themselves are cold and devious, and the chill permeates the whole film.

October 25, 2006 Comment (1)
New York Observer
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It doesn't want to explore epistemological questions about the nature of perception and memory; it just wants to mess with our heads. And as a wily, slightly sadistic chess game of a movie, it succeeds quite nicely.

October 23, 2006 Full Review Source: Slate | Comment
Slate
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The Prestige is a trick box with too many false bottoms.

October 21, 2006 Full Review Source: Salon.com | Comments (10)
Salon.com
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Until an inexplicably awful revelation at the end, The Prestige is a taut, exciting portrait of obsession and the dark competitive spirit of professional magicians.

September 19, 2009 Full Review Source: Film and Felt | Comments (2)
Film and Felt

Risible inanity

August 28, 2009 Full Review Source: CinePassion | Comments (11)
CinePassion

Although the slowish pacing early on over-indicates how both magicians' marquee misdirection (a disappearing act) will be achieved, The Prestige still manages a neat trick of its own.

April 23, 2009 Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | Comment
Boston Phoenix

Show me a director better suited for a movie about magic than Christopher Nolan and I'll show you... a magician?

November 20, 2008 Full Review Source: Hollywood.com | Comment
Hollywood.com

Rival magicians battle in smart, dark period tale.

July 16, 2008 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media

"The Prestige" is a cinematic trick, nothing more, and the deadpan seriousness is part of the effect, and not an end in itself.

April 17, 2008 Full Review Source: Beyond Hollywood | Comment
Beyond Hollywood

In a movie about people who make their livings on misdirection, The Prestige utterly forgets to employ its own.

February 28, 2008 Full Review Source: BrandonFibbs.com | Comments (16)
BrandonFibbs.com

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September 28, 2007 Full Review Source: Index.hr | Comment

Nolan balances Hollywood and indie sensibilities pulling off a film that is smart, complicated and carries a big look.

August 13, 2007 Full Review Source: Calgary Movies | Comment
Calgary Movies

As the magicians attempt various versions of "The Transported Man," you can't help but feel transported yourself to a time when magic was the big entertainment.

July 25, 2007 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis | Comment
Movie Metropolis

As is his want, Mr. Nolan jumps between time periods and voice-overs with reckless abandon. The movie's real trick is that it all somehow manages to congeal.

July 14, 2007 Full Review Source: Big Picture Big Sound | Comment (1)
Big Picture Big Sound

You wouldn't have guessed it from The Prestige's marketing, but this movie about rival Victorian magicians is actually a science fiction film . . .

June 4, 2007 Full Review Source: Sci-Fi Movie Page | Comment

An example of old-fashioned storytelling, the kind of magical movie that could have been made fifty years ago and, consequently, will still be watched fifty years from now.

March 24, 2007 Full Review Source: UGO | Comment

An interesting if not entirely satisfactory theatrical interpretation of magical rivalries.

March 3, 2007 Full Review Source: Cinemania | Comment
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for The Prestige

six or seven dollars worth of movie

June 4, 2007
brooklynspo

Super Reviewer

This revenge thriller twists and turns through different points-of-views, time, and setting and manages to keep the audience engaged and shocked throughout. Great performances by both Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale. "The Prestige"'ll surprise you, entertain you, and shock you. A great time.

September 17, 2010
Albert Kim

Super Reviewer

    1. Cutter: Now you're looking for the secret...But you won't find it bof course, you're not really looking... You don't really want to know..You want to be fooled!
    – Submitted by Chella M (52 days ago)
    1. Cutter: I once told you about a salior who described drowning to me.
    2. Robert Angier: Yes, he said it was like going home.
    3. Cutter: I was lying. He said it was agony.
    – Submitted by Will J (2 months ago)
    1. Alfred Borden: Simple maybe, but not easy.
    – Submitted by Ryan D (5 months ago)
    1. Robert Angier: Man's reach exceeds his imagination!
    – Submitted by John R (8 months ago)
    1. Alfred Borden: Secrets are my life.
    – Submitted by Jason H (8 months ago)

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Foreign Titles

  • Prestige - Die Meister der Magie (DE)
  • Le Prestige (FR)
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