The Prestige: Rating: 5 stars

A tragic accident shatters the friendship of two young magicians and incites a lifelong rivalry and obsessive quest for vengeance.

The Prestige (2006)
2006 · PG-13 · Thriller
Reviewed

A tragic accident shatters the friendship of two young magicians and incites a lifelong animosity; as their careers ascend, so does their rivalry, until neither can be stopped in the obsessive quest for vengeance. I’d write a longer summary, but I’m afraid I’ll inadvertantly give away the plot, which is so tightly wound and carefully twisted that even the smallest details speak volumes; think Memento and The Others rolled into one. (It’s directed by the guy who directed Memento, which is a recommendation in itself.) I’m a sucker for turn-of-the-century “costume dramas” anyway, and turn-of-the-century magic movies get extra points in my book — but even if the cast had been wearing blue jeans and toting iPods, this movie would still get a 5/5 rating. Hell, even Scarlett Johansson’s English accent worked! For once, the blurbs on the back do not lie when they claim that “you’ll want to watch it again the minute it’s over” — I sat spellbound through all two hours, and if it hadn’t been near midnight when I finished it, I would certainly have popped it right back in.