“How Fast can you Dig?”
Oh, tomorrow there will be snow angels.
Well, Christmas Day has passed and all is well. There was Guinness, and undersized Y-fronts (You don’t want to know, I’m not going to tell you) and enough to keep me occupied for the day. Roll on Boxing Day and more present-filled shenanigans!
In the meantime, I sit up around 1am and think of things to do. I don’t really have any energy for writing my script at this hour, but I do find myself inspired to think about a critical scene towards what will be the end of it. I have made notes on it and I’ll get to it when I get to it. Thanks go to the film that will be the subject of the next post’s review, which I’ll mention at the end as always.
Now, back on topic, the next film under my reviewing scope:
The Prestige.
Story in brief: One magician is in prison facing death for murder, the other is dead. The story follows these two men as their lives led to this point.
One thing I have come to expect from Christopher Nolan is that you can never take any of his works at face value. Memento is a classic example. Man retracing his steps by practically living backwards. I never truly know what to expect with a Nolan film, and that includes Jonathan Nolan, other than one thing: I am never going to be disappointed.
For me, The Prestige sits in the same category for twist endings as The Usual Suspects. It’s pretty much flawless. I won’t reveal any spoilers, because I hate spoilers myself, but that ending has to be seen to be believed. The only thing that The Usual Suspects has over it is the source of the twist itself. However, The Prestige counters that by dropping the answer right in your lap in the first ten minutes, then spending the whole film convincing you it isn’t what the film just told you it was. It makes the whole experience that more enriching, knowing you’ve just been screwed over by a film director. It makes it even more enriching knowing that you loved every single second of it.
I must admit, if I had the wish to create a ‘top 20 movies of all time’ this would be one of my first entries. I don’t do that sort of thing because there are just so many fantastic films out there. I don’t have a favourite film either, but I digress. There is just nothing wrong with this film. It’s believable, edgy, witty, suspenseful and downright awesome.
If I were to change anything, and I mean if I seriously HAD to, it would have been to re-cast Hugh Jackman. I wouldn’t, because he is amazing in this film. He delivers his character really well, has a great chemistry with Bale and Michael Caine, and is just faultless. But if I seriously had to choose anything, it’d be him. Might just be because his role would suit alot of other actors.
Anyway, The Prestige is awesome. I love it.
So, that was a fairly standard review. Next up is one I haven’t watched in a few years, but I will brush up on it and give it a once over. Ah, Greeners, you will hate me if I get this wrong.
Gladiator.
