~ WOLVERINE vs BATMAN: The final showdown ~. Review on Prestige Movie

Dir: Christopher Nolan.

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Christain Bale, Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson, Piper Perabo, Rebecca Hall.

This deft and dazzling cinematic slight-of-hand is a fascinating delve into the murky world of two Victorian-era magicians engaged in a deep-rooted duel that festers over the years and ends up with deadly repercussions.

Imagine David Blaine and Paul Daniels (well, a cool, taller version of Paul Daniels) vying for the top spot on the magician’s ladder and you have a rough idea. In The Prestige, though, we have the rather better looking Hugh Jackman (as suave showman Robert Angier) and Christian Bale (as the grittier but gifted Alfred Borden) as the two illusionists who bring magic to the music halls but end up the most bitter of enemies.

Throw into the mix the shapely Scarlett Johansson as a sexy stage assistant Olivia - switching affections between the men quicker than she changes her stunning costumes - and you have all the elements for a tantalisingly tasty bit of movie magic.

As directed (and co-scripted) by Christopher Nolan - who starred Bale in last year’s superhero hit Batman Begins and - The Prestige is a daringly complex film that draws you into a web of intrigue and deceit, and is so twisting that at times it is hard to keep track.

And while it is all stunningly presented there is also a niggling doubt that all is not as it seems - yes the tricks are clever and slick, and the performances are all top-notch, but as a movie it is also a little too cold and smug to really grip you.

Ever-reliable Michael Caine (who, of course, also starred in Batman Begins) crops up in suitably twinkly-eyed fashion as Angier’s manager, while the cast also features - of all people - rock icon David Bowie as a visionary inventor who has a few tricks up his sleeve. Support is ably provided in the form of Brit Andy Serkis (aka Gollum) and newcomer Rebecca Hall.

It is left, though, to Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale to carry the show - Jackman is blessed with a real movie-star presence, and while Bale has the same intenseness he brought (to good effect) to Batman, he is rather a cold figure. Originally friends, the two become bitter enemies when Julia (Angie's wife) is killed during the staging of a trick.

The film is played out in three acts — The Pledge (set-up), The Turn (trick) and The Prestige (reveal). The final part is the one with the turns and set-ups.

This elegant piece of 19th-century abracadabra manages to be absorbing right up until the final clever twist.