Christopher Nolan truly confirms his talent as a director and story teller in his latest film, The Prestige.  Reuniting yet again with Christian Bale (proving to be a very worthwhile combination), Nolan weaves a very complicated and fascinating tale about obsession.

 The story follows two up and coming magicians, Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) and Rupert Angier (Hugh Jackman).  Nolan is brilliant at chronologically overlapping the tale as these two illusionists compete in what becomes a dangerously cyclical battle.  The story unfolds with fantastic twists along the way, all very intelligently foreshadowed throughout the movie.  The opening line of the movie is “watch closely” and it’s definitely a line worth taking to heart.

 Jackman and Bale both deliver amazing performances as each of their characters both rise and fall in fame and fortune.  The development of the characters and the narrative is so complex that the audience finds itself on different sides of the rivalry throughout the film.  Michael Cane is also in true form as an incredible supporting actor, whose character truly tries to provide a central balance for the movie and then ultimately lays judgment between the two adversaries.

 So How Does It End?

 I cannot stress enough here that you should not continue reading and just skip down below the stars to read my conclusion.  This story is so intricate that it seems such a shame to write out a spoiler, but I suppose that’s what I do, so this is your last warning.

 The ultimate act in the two magicians’ performances is called “The Transported Man.”  Angier is frustrated to the point of obsession because he cannot figure out how Borden performs the act so perfectly.  This combined with Angier’s inability to forgive has robbed him of any real relationships in life and he is essentially driven mad.  Without going through all the complicated details that are far more magical on screen, Angier frames Borden for his own murder in the exact manner that a magician makes a bird disappear many times throughout the film (watch closely J).  Although Borden is hanged for the crime, we discover that he had a twin which shared his life in everyway, and that lives on to exact revenge against Angier.