Christopher Nolan: Ranking His Films From Worst To Best
5. The Prestige
Christopher Nolan is well known for frequently collaborating with a recurring cast and crew, and Christian Bales committed, pitch-perfect contribution to Batman Begins was enough to convince the director that he had found the perfect actor to head up the cast of his 2006 drama The Prestige. Bale plays Alfred Borden, a London magician who develops a friendship with fellow illusionist Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) that disintegrates following an on-stage accident in which Angiers wife drowns. Angier blames Borden for her death, and a personal and professional rivalry develops between the pair where obsession, jealousy and deception fuel a dangerous war with tragic consequences. As is his wont, Nolan eschews the typical approach of telling the story in a linear fashion, choosing instead to start the film with Borden on trial for the murder of Angier and use misdirection and cinematic sleight of hand to cross-cut crucial events and keep the audience guessing right to the last. The Prestige received generally positive reviews but the movies big reveal was underwhelming to some and either predictable or ridiculous to others. The film has been criticised for being an extended parlour trick that takes too long to get where it's going, but by and large moviegoers enjoyed Nolans magic show, and the impressive cast and superbly-realised period setting do enough to moor The Prestige somewhere around the middle of Nolan's works.
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