The Prestige (DVD)

The best magician movie of 2006 has come home to DVD and hopefully you will be placing it right alongside The Illusionist because the two of these films together are nothing but mood making fun. After doing a theatrical review of The Prestige I really feel there isn't a whole lot more to say without giving you more story than you are going to want and not ruining the twists and turns the film offers, but I will try and don't blame me if I don't dig too deep. After all, it is your best interests I have in mind.

The Prestige is a movie centered on the competitive nature of two rival magicians played by Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale. Their rivalry consists of constant one-up-manship as the two search to learn the other's secrets and the stakes are much higher than the fame and fortune that comes with being known as the best.

Bale and Jackman are both excellent in this film and stand out as two of our premiere actors. Bale turns in his third consecutive great role following up The Machinist and Batman Begins while Jackman also had The Fountain in 2006 to build his street cred. Helping these two along the way is the always impressive Michael Caine and an awesome performance by David Bowie making you wish he was in many more movies, but this role certainly suited his style and demeanor.

One of the things that weighed on me the most before watching The Prestige again was whether or not the twists and turns would be as equally impactful since I already knew them. To that I can only say that I think I actually enjoyed the film more as after only 5 minutes or so of watching it a second time I was already looking to see what director Christopher Nolan had in there to either throw the audience off or tip them off. Either way, the film is not at all ruined if you already know the outcome and as I said, I actually enjoyed it more on the second go around.

Feature wise it is a bit limp as there is no commentary track and only a five-part making-of documentary that lasts just shy of 20 minutes and then various production images in the "Art of The Prestige" featurette. Personally I couldn't care less about looking at stills on my TV and the making of piece is just generic enough for me to call it a waste of time.

I truly hope Buena Vista gets their act together and gives this film a proper 2-disc release in the future including a commentary track with Nolan and perhaps his brother/screenwriter Jonathan Nolan and perhaps even the cast to boot. A more in-depth documentary also wouldn't hurt as not even the Batman Begins special editions really went into Nolan's directing style other than to give second hand information from the actors which is more ass-kissing than worthwhile information.

For now, and with no foreseeable special edition in sight, I certainly think you should pick this movie up and add it to your collection and while you are at the store snag The Illusionist as well as it is just a notch below this film, and on some nights perhaps even better. The two make great companion pieces and are certain to entertain as they may be the same in genre but far different in style and delivery.