The Prestige

I listened to the novel THE PRESTIGE, by Christopher Priest. While both the book and the movie share the elements of feuding magicians and the technology of Nikola Tesla, they are very different stories. I found myself wondering how the movie managed to improve on the essence of the novel without utilizing the same plot devices as the novel. The movie was, to me, more satisfying. It was more horrific than the novel, and the feud attacks were better staged. It felt like a magic trick, while the book seemed to lose its focus. The book has a very different ending due to the different effects attributed the Tesla machine. The two versions stand as variations on a theme. Both are worth the price of admission. The movie attains greatness. The book, by virtue of its disparity from the film, manages to be surprising and rewarding in its own right.

(Deus Vult)