Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		5.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.5

The Prestige 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

It's No Illusion

Reviewed by Michael Reuben January 17, 2018

The Prestige is one of seven films by director Christopher Nolan issued on UHD in a massive technical undertaking by one of today's most successful and influential filmmakers. The immediate occasion for the project was Nolan's historical wartime epic, Dunkirk, but the inclusion of every feature film that Nolan has made in the last twelve years also reflects the director's conviction that 4K UHD is the definitive home video technology of our era and the best way for his films to be seen outside of theatrical venues. In support of that conviction, Nolan has personally overseen every aspect of these releases, from element selection to film transfer to color correction to HDR grading to choice of sound formats—and even packaging. Rarely has the notion of "director approved" been more apt or more literally true.

But even a director of Nolan's stature can't have everything his way, especially when it comes to Disney, who co-produced The Prestige with Warner Brothers. Outside the U.S., this new 4K version of The Prestige is being distributed by Warner, and, in a special licensing arrangement, it is also being included in the seven-film collection that Warner has issued both domestically and worldwide. Disney has the domestic marketing rights for the solo release of The Prestige, and it has chosen to provide U.S. customers with an inferior product. Nolan deliberately arranged to have the film's standard Blu-ray remastered for this latest release, separating the extras onto a BD-25, re-authoring the video master at a higher bitrate and re-encoding the 5.1 sound from PCM to DTS-HD MA. Although the transfer on the standard Blu-ray is the same one used in 2007, its new presentation is superior, and the splitting of the extras to their own disc brings The Prestige into line with the three-disc formatting of all the other films in the Christopher Nolan Collection.

If you buy the seven-film collection—or if you buy the single title as sold by Warner everywhere but in the U.S.—you will get the three-disc set that the director intended. But if you buy Disney's product, you'll get only two discs: the UHD and a reprint of the original Prestige Blu-ray from 2007. Anyone accustomed to dealing with Disney's habitual cheapness when it comes to video releases of live-action features has long since become resigned to such sloppy corner-cutting, but it's unfortunate that the penury of the Mouse House has left a blotch on Nolan's mammoth project, where everyone else involved has obviously taken pains to deliver a quality product. (Batman Begins, for example, was given a similar makeover, and Warner is distributing its single 4K release on three discs, as Nolan intended.)

But at least Nolan was able to retain control over The Prestige's 4K/HDR version, an excellent presentation that provides yet another apt demonstration of the format's potential.

Ben Williams' review of the original Blu-ray provides a brief synopsis of The Prestige, which is difficult to discuss without spoilers. The narrative is one of Nolan's twistier creations, with much of the story presented retrospectively through the dueling journals of the two competing magicians played by Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman. Beginning as friendly collaborators for an older magician (Ricky Jay) and the engineer who designs his illusions (Michael Caine, a Nolan stalwart), the pair become bitter rivals who observe no limits in their efforts to destroy each other—but cleverly, through illusion and stagecraft.

Nolan's work is rife with doubles, doppelgängers, friends who become enemies and enemies who turn out to be, if not friends, then essential partners (think of the Joker telling Batman "you . . . complete me"). I have always thought that it would make an interesting study to trace these motifs through the director's filmography, perhaps with emphasis on the works he co-writes with his brother, Jonathan, co-creator of HBO's Westworld (where a different kind of doubling occurs). But that is a subject for another day.

The Prestige 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

(Note: Screenshots accompanying this review are 1080p captures from the standard Blu-ray. Additional screenshots can be found here.)

The Prestige was shot on film by Nolan's frequent partner, Wally Pfister, who would later win an Oscar for the director's Inception. Newly scanned and color-corrected under Nolan's personal supervision, the film arrives on this 2160p, HEVC/H.265-encoded UHD in a presentation that can truly be said to "blow away" the previous Blu-ray master, even in the re-encoded rendition available from Warner. The Prestige's meticulous period design and costumes have never looked so rich and detailed outside of a good theatrical presentation. The clothing textures are subtle and tactile; the facial details have the fine intensity of the best large-format photography; and the Victorian decor seems convincingly real and immediate. The Prestige features numerous scenes of crowded theaters where the rival magicians perform, and the attendees in the crowd remain distinct and individuated even in long shots. So do the magicians and their assistants on stage, even when photographed at a great distance from the rear of the theater. (It's like having a back row seat, but with perfect vision and an unobstructed view.) The dark, rich tones of the English sequences contrast sharply with the vivid greenery of the American scenes, when Jackman's character embarks on a quest for inspiration to the New World, and the electrical marvels he encounters there—presided over by a politely sinister David Bowie—almost leap off the screen. HDR grading supplies improvements both subtle (e.g., in the colorful stage costumes of Scarlett Johannson and Piper Perabo) and dramatic (e.g., in the swirling mists and snow of the mysterious mansion that Jackman's character approaches at the film's opening; they're like mush on the Blu-ray compared to the UHD).

The Prestige is one of my personal favorites among Nolan's films. Watching it in this 4K presentation was like seeing it fresh for the first time. It's the only way I want to watch it in the future.

(Note: The original version of this review incorrectly stated that this UHD was derived from the camera negative. That assertion was based on incorrect information supplied by Warner Brothers. It has now been confirmed from multiple sources that the 4K/HDR master was derived from an interpositive, at Christopher Nolan's express instruction and contrary to Warner's standard policy, which provides that 4K scans should utilize the existing element with the greatest resolution. We regret the error; the scores for Video and 4K have been adjusted.)

The Prestige 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Prestige was previously released on Blu-ray with a lossless 5.1 track encoded as PCM and reviewed here. The UHD features the same mix, but now encoded in DTS-HD MA. If there's any audible difference between the two encodes, it was not obvious.

The Prestige 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The UHD disc has no extras. In this Disney single release, the accompanying reprint of the 2007 Blu-ray contains the same extras listed here. In the seven-film Christopher Nolan Collection sold by Warner and in the single release offered by Warner outside the U.S., those extras appear on a separate BD-25.

The Prestige 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Prestige's UHD rendition offers a substantial upgrade over its Blu-ray counterparts, in whichever version one ends up acquiring it. Still, if you are a U.S. purchaser who isn't interested in the entire Christopher Nolan Collection, it would be well worth considering acquiring the 4K Prestige from overseas. Disney's package isn't what Nolan wanted buyers to have, and Disney deserves to pay a price for its penny-pinching. The UHD disc is highly recommended; the Disney release isn't.