The Prestige.

"The Prestige is a triumph of gimmickry, a movie generous enough with its showmanship and sleight of hand to quiet the temptation to grumble about its lack of substance," writes AO Scott in the New York Times. Director Christopher Nolan narrates an accompanying slide show.

"Anyone who has followed Nolan's career can see both why he was attracted to the book and why he has changed it in this manner," writes Andy Klein in the LA CityBeat. "The film's thematic concerns are similar to those in all of his earlier films (excluding Insomnia, which is the closest he has come to an impersonal work for hire): the definition of identity, which is the very center of Memento and also crops up in Batman Begins; play-acting and showmanship (in Batman Begins and Following); multiple betrayals and layers of deceit (in all three). There are many interesting implications about these issues within The Prestige... almost none of which can be discussed without committing numerous sins of spoilage."

Updated through 10/22.

"In its first half, The Prestige works as a clever diversion, a darkly glittering, if mechanical, showpiece," writes Stephanie Zacharek, but it turns out to be "a trick box with too many false bottoms. Ultimately, the last one simply gives way - leaving us with a hole, and a little residual darkness, but not much else." Also in Salon, Andrew O'Hehir has a stop-n-go conversation "with the guy who, even after just five feature films, looks like the premier cinematic sleight-of-hand artist of our time."

Zack Smith in the Independent Weekly: "The Prestige pulls a few narrative rabbits out of its hat at the end that leave the audience with much to think about, but these magicians would be better off if more of their secrets had been revealed."

The Stranger's Annie Wagner: "There's no sleight-of-hand here, just sick magic (not slick, mind you, sick), and it's tremendous."

"Part factual, part fictional, part fantastical, what results verges on being too tricky, on mixing too many genres, but the filmmaking is of such a high order it is hard not to be impressed and entertained," writes Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times.

At the Reeler, Michelle Orange finds it "a ridiculously, almost uncomfortably engaging film; you can almost hear the sizzle and pop beneath excellent editing, and the humdinger pace and constant switcheroos weave the film's heftier ideas seamlessly into the breathable fabric of a great thriller."

Cinematical's Ryan Stewart didn't find guessing the film's secret all that tough.

Online viewing tip. ScreenGrab has Nolan's early short, Doodle Bug.

Earlier: Scott Foundas in the Voice, Nick Schager in Slant and John Horn's profile of the Nolan brothers in the LAT.

Updates, 10/22: Mike Russell: "[I]t's a little strange that Nolan has finally made a movie about magicians, a film about the trickery that clearly obsesses him... and it contains the sloppiest misdirection of his short career."

"To be perfectly honest, The Prestige is wildly overplotted and it contains a final gimmick that you're going to kick yourself for not recognizing sooner," writes Richard Schickel in Time. "Yet for all the film's murky misdirections, it is very enjoyable."

Posted by dwhudson at October 21, 2006 8:58 AM