The Prestige is something of a red-headed step-child, sandwiched between two installments of Nolan’s brilliant re-imagining of the Batman franchise, featuring two actors (Bale and Caine) from those films. What’s interesting about it is the way the film attempts to stretch the Hollywood blockbuster.

In a sense, there are no good guys or bad guys in the film, as the story is far more concerned with presenting an examination of duality and obsession and the true meaning of professional dedication.

While many deride the “artificial” twists and turns the story takes, I personally enjoy them. A hallmark of magic tricks is that nothing you see as an audience is as you first see it. Another hallmark is that the more you learn about how the trick is accomplished, the less satisfying it is. The Prestige embraces both of these truths, and does so while illuminating the ruined core of two (or more?) brilliant fascinating men caught up in a private war of obsession and revenge that may never end.

Does it work entirely? No, mostly because the twists and turns wind up overpowering the story a little too much, detracting from the central characters and their battle. Still, not bad for a red-headed stepchild.