Christopher Nolan: 5 Ways The Prestige Is Better Than Memento (& 5 Why Memento Is Better)

The Prestige and Memento are often celebrated as being some of the best thrillers of the 21st century that also happen to feature very similar non-linear narrative structures. Another shared feature of the two movies is that they were directed by none other than Christopher Nolan, who is well-known for making movies with unusual concepts.

Be it because of their cult following or their overall critical and commercial success, fans have started comparing the two movies because of their similarities. In a way, one could be superior, but is there really such a big difference?

10 The Prestige: The Costume And Set Design Immerses Viewers

It’s definitely not something everyone will focus on immediately, but the costume and set design are the two elements that can elevate a movie’s visual look more than anything. Moreover, they can even help to immerse the viewers into the atmosphere better.

With The Prestige, it’s obvious that there was a lot of work and care put into making the movie seem authentic. It really does look like it takes place around the end of the 19th century.

9 Memento: The Peculiar Premise Is One Of The Best In Recent History

Nolan is amazing at crafting unique concepts for his movies that bring in more viewers than ever. In fact, this is part of the reason for his huge success.

And with Memento, he did exactly what he is so good at doing – he created a peculiar premise which is arguably one of the best in recent history. The main character, Leonard, instantly has strong motivation as well as a weakness that makes the audience feel for him and want to follow his story.

8 The Prestige: The Acting Stands Out More

Of course, Guy Pearce did a great job in Memento as did other cast members of the movie. But the acting in The Prestige simply stands out more in comparison.

Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale make the rivalry between their characters look very believable while supporting actors like Scarlett Johansson, Michael Caine, Rebecca Hall, Andy Serkis, and David Bowie create meaningful interactions for them that drive the story forward.

7 Memento: The Story Is Less Confusing

Probably one of the biggest issues with Nolan’s movies is that they can often be confusing because of their concept or plot structure – and this is the case both for Memento and The Prestige.

But even though both use non-linear narration, Memento is slightly less confusing just because it takes the precaution of using black-and-white footage for one storyline and color for another.

6 The Prestige: The Cinematography Looks Really Good

With every movie Christopher Nolan has made, he had perfected his craft in different ways and this obviously shows in the cinematography of his movies.

The Prestige is definitely more exciting than Memento in this aspect, both because Nolan was more experienced by this point (he had been working with the same cinematographer on both movies – Wally Pfister) and because there was a bigger budget for the movie.

5 Memento: The Score Is Simply Better

Nolan’s movies are more known for Hans Zimmer’s scores than anyone else’s, but the director has actually worked with other composers as well.

The music for Memento and The Prestige was written by the same person – David Julyan. Both scores are good, but Memento’s seems to be a bit better thanks to its simplicity, which makes it so easy to remember.

4 The Prestige: The Rivalry Raises The Stakes A Lot

As mentioned earlier, the protagonist of Memento, Leonard, instantly has a very good motive for his actions and a very interesting weakness that holds him back.

But at the same time, the rivalry in The Prestige raises the stakes even higher. It’s a bit confusing at first, but once the audience gets the hang of what is going on, it becomes infinitely entertaining to see the two magicians trying to outdo each other.

3 Memento: The Atmosphere Is More Mysterious

Both Memento and The Prestige have a very unique kind of atmosphere reminiscent of Nolan’s other works, but both of them also stand out of his filmography because of the heightened mystery around everything.

And yet, it seems that Memento’s atmosphere is more mysterious than that of The Prestige, which probably because of the limited number of characters within the story and a bigger focus on the title character.

2 The Prestige: The Metaphor Makes The Story Have A Dual Meaning

Not everyone knows about it, but The Prestige is pretty much just one big metaphor about filmmakers that are represented here as magicians. Nolan shows the way cinema tricks the viewers just as magicians trick their audience.

This metaphor makes the story have a dual meaning. From one side, it’s about magicians trying to be the best at what they do. But from a different side, it’s the way filmmakers try to do the same with movies.

1 Memento: The Movie Was Overall More Successful

It’s a tough call, but Memento was actually more successful overall than The Prestige was. The former was much better received by critics, while both got two Academy Award nominations each.

When it comes to commercial success, the situation is a bit trickier. Though The Prestige obviously earned more than Memento ($110 million and $40 million respectively), the latter actually earned ten times its budget ($4.5 million) while the former only earned 2.5 times its budget ($40 million).

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