Cinema Experts

"An actor should never be larger than the film he's in."
Christian Charles Philip Bale is a Welsh-born English method actor who is known for his roles in the films American Psycho, Shaft, Equilibrium, The Machinist, Batman Begins and The Prestige, among others. Bale is also known for his versatility as an actor, including mimicking nearly any English-language-based accent, harsh regimens of shedding and gaining weight and generally inhabiting the characters he plays. Before he found success in playing Batman, he was heavily involved in independent films.
He made his film debut as Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich of Russia in the made-for-television film Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna in 1986, which was followed by leading roles in the miniseries Heart of the Country and the fantasy adventure Mio in the Land of Faraway, in which he appeared for the first time with Christopher Lee. In 1987, Amy Irving, his co-star in Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna, recommended Bale to her then-husband, Steven Spielberg, for a role in Empire of the Sun. Bale's performance as Jim Graham earned him widespread critical praise and the first ever "Best Performance by a Juvenile Actor" award from the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures; the Board created the award especially for him.
In 1994 Bale was handpicked by Winona Ryder to star in Gillian Armstrong's version of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. In 1995. Bale provided the voice for Thomas, a young compatriot of Captain John Smith, in Disney's Pocahontas. In 1997, Bale played the lead in Todd Haynes' tribute to glam rock, Velvet Goldmine. In 1999, Bale contributed to an all-star cast, including Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer, Stanley Tucci, and Rupert Everett in an updated version of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
In 1999, Bale prepared to undertake what would arguably be his most acclaimed role, as serial killer Patrick Bateman in American Psycho. The film diverged from the novel in some instances, but was generally faithful. Bateman was, on the outward, a stereotypical yuppie, but underneath the public image he had created for himself he was actually a murderous psychopath. Bale researched Bateman by studying the novel. He prepared himself physically for the role by spending months tanning and exercising rigorously in order to achieve Bateman’s Olympian physique, even going so far as to distance himself from the cast and crew in order to preserve the darker side of Bateman’s character.
In 2004 Bale played Batman and was set to star with the predominantly British and Irish cast of Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman and Cillian Murphy in the Christopher Nolan-helmed Batman Begins, a complete restart of the Batman mythos without any ties to the Burton or Schumacher visions.

“Every great magic trick consists of three parts or acts. The first part is called "The Pledge". The magician shows you something ordinary: a deck of cards, a bird or a man. He shows you this object. Perhaps he asks you to inspect it to see if it is indeed real, unaltered, normal. But of course... it probably isn't. The second act is called "The Turn". The magician takes the ordinary something and makes it do something extraordinary. Now you're looking for the secret... but you won't find it, because of course you're not really looking. You don't really want to know. You want to be fooled. But you wouldn't clap yet. Because making something disappear isn't enough; you have to bring it back. That's why every magic trick has a third act, the hardest part, the part we call "The Prestige".
The Prestige is a 2006 period film directed by Christopher Nolan, with a screenplay adapted from the 1995 World Fantasy Award-winning novel of the same name by Christopher Priest. The story follows Robert Angier and Alfred Borden, rival stage magicians in fin de siècle London. Obsessed with creating the best stage illusion, they engage in competitive one-upmanship with tragic results.
The rivalry between Borden and Angier dominates the film. Obsession, secrecy, and sacrifice fuel the battle, as both magicians contribute their fair share to a deadly duel of one-upmanship, with disastrous results. Angier's obsession with beating Borden costs him Cutter's friendship, while Borden's obsession with maintaining the secrecy of his twin leads Sarah to question their relationship, eventually resulting in her suicide; in the end, Angier and Borden both lose Olivia's love because of their obsessions. Their struggle is also expressed through class warfare: Borden as The Professor, a working-class magician who gets his hands dirty, versus Angier as The Great Danton, a classy showman whose accent makes him appear American
Michael Caine took on this engineering role as Cutter, responsible for assisting Rupert Angier (Hugh Jackman) with loyalty and conviction that they could, as a team, beat Christian Bale's Alfred Borden. I thought the cast in general were superb, with Christian Bale leading the charge. Hugh Jackman too showed that he could play a dark character, as the two leads tackled their characters' theme of sacrifice, arrogance, and ultimately redemption, especially for Rupert Angier. I thought he did what he did towards the end was a kind of penance to what happened in the beginning, hoping to kill two birds with a single stone, to exact the sweetest revenge he could possibly muster. What also was intriguing about the two lead characters was that there is no right or wrong, no hero or villain. It's always a shade of grey in what they do, and for Alfred Borden, I felt it's more for survival and the provision for family, which is a strong subplot running through the film. A movie with the power of becoming a cult classic, ''The Prestige'' is magical. In every sense of the Word. 9/10