Nolan's ‘The Prestige,’ ‘Inception’ entertain, leave you guessing

THE PRESTIGE 

By TERRY R. CASSREINO

With his highly successful “Batman” trilogy coming to a close next week, many people might associate director Christopher Nolan solely to comic book superhero films.

But that’s far from accurate.

Nolan is an incredibly talented filmmaker whose has helmed several well-made, thought-provoking movies that show he has more depth than many people might otherwise think.

Nolan first grabbed the attention with “Memento,” his off-beat thriller story about a man with short-term memory loss. Nolan told the story backward, starting from the end and wrapping up at the beginning.

But the two films I want to highlight came immediately after he finished his first and second “Batman” films.


These two films, more than any of his other work, show how much Nolan has grown as an artist and storyteller.

“The Prestige” from 2006, which Nolan directed immediately following “Batman Begins,” stars Christian Bale, Nolan’s Batman, and Hugh Jackman as dueling magicians in the late 1800s England.

CHRISTIAN BALE AND HUGH JACKMAN IN 'THE PRESTIGE'

Both men start the film as friends, only to have a stage accident draw them apart forever. They spend much of the film in a jealous rage, each one trying to outwit and out-perform the other on stage while slowly destroying the other’s personal life.

As he did in “Batman Begins” and late in “The Dark Knight,” Nolan visits and develops one of his favorite themes: the duality of man. We watch both main characters contrast their striking, charismatic stage presence with an obsessive desire to destroy each other.

And what makes this film so fascinating is that Nolan recreates London of the late 1800s and shows how these two showmen easily captured the imagination of thousands of loyal fans. We see how they staged their illusions. And we see how jealousy and revenge eats away at their personal life.

Nolan does a similar trick with “Inception,” his brilliant 2010 science fiction masterpiece in which he explores the fine line between dreams and reality, sanity and madness, what’s real and what’s fiction.

Filmed as an action thriller, “Inception” stars Leonardo DiCaprio as an expert technician who can enter the dreams of people and extract valuable personal information – in essence, he’s the ultimate identity thief.

INCEPTION

I won’t spoil the plot because part of its joy is watching how Nolan effortlessly weaves his tale and allows it to double-back on itself. “Inception” is never what it seems to be at almost any point of the film.

One reason the film works – and, in fact, a main reason why all of Nolan’s films are as good as they are – is they are all perfectly cast. Bale and Jackman in “The Prestige” and DiCaprio in “Inception” play to their types expertly. These aren’t flashy, showy performances. They are all business and they work perfect.

While his “Batman” films are told in traditional, linear fashion, Nolan abandons that approach with “The Prestige” and “Inception.” He uses a jumbled timeline, jumping from the present to the past to the future or mixing dreams with reality and daring the audience to tell the difference.

Because Nolan pulls it off in these two films only highlights his skills as a filmmaker. If you haven’t seen either one, treat yourself to a memorable night at home.

“The Prestige” and “Inception” are rated PG-13. Both contain violence and adult language. Both films are available in pristine high-definition transfers on Blu-ray and DVD disc. Check bargain bins for discounted copies of “The Prestige.” Both are worth checking out.


Here is the official trailer for “The Prestige.”