A Guy Named Renfield

I read The Prestige by Christopher Priest several years ago right after it was released. It had won the World Fantasy award, and its premise of two rival magicians seemed intriguing. I recall being rather disappointed with it. The gothic style lent itself well to the atmosphere of the time period, but made for a very dry read. The ending was also dissatisfying, in that the two big secrets (how they did it) – leant nothing to the story. For the main protagonist, his secret is illustrated as you go through the story, and it is the consequences that are supposed to hold dramatic power, but just don’t. For his rival, there should have been references to previous points in the novel to explain how certain feats were accomplished, but since there weren’t it just read as any other fact about the person. All in all, a rather dull novel.

At no point during any of the advertising for the movie do I recall hearing or seeing the phrase “based on the book”, but the producers may have held the same opinion of the novel as I did. The movie, though was a trifle better. But just a trifle. They started off right by having Hugh Jackman take his shirt off in the first ten minutes. Hey, it’s why all the women went to see it, so it was nice that they got it out of the way quick. They changed things around from the book, of course, though there are only a few points I can point to definitively. I’m certain a murder mystery wasn’t part of the book, as that would have been an interesting development. The secret of Hugh Jackman’s rival is presented much better than the novel, but is also incredibly obvious. The movie has a good pace, though, and is aided by some stunt casting in the form of David Bowie and Andy Serkis. Bowie is unrecognizable with slicked-back hair, moustache and goatee,and wearing a suit as the accented scientist Tesla. Serkis is equally unrecognizable since this is probably the first movie he ever made where he isn’t covered by CGI effects. I kept thinking, “Why does that hefty guy have such distinctive eyes and lips?”

Incidentally, we saw this movie at Hoyt's Nursery Road, which is obviously hurting from Muvico's multiplex at Arundel Mills, is a great alternative when you want a stadium theater without the traffic and clutter of the mall.