Spoiler-free summary: _The Prestige_ is a compellingly-told story about two deeply unlikable magicians.

[spoiler]For Angier's part, his obsession is clearly unhealthy. Cutter tells him as much, as does Tesla. He appeared to be friendly with Borden before the incident, and I'm not sure his transformation into a revenge-obsessed Lord is believable. Of course his _anger_ is believable, but where did he get such vast amounts of money if his magic career was struggling due to Borden's continuing sabotage?[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Then there's Borden: Whether or not he could remember which knot he tied that fateful night, I place at his feet all of the blame for Angier's self-destruction. Alfred never comes across as sorry in the least for his possible role in Julia's death. Presumably at that point in time, he wasn't living "half a life" yet, because The Transported Man wasn't yet being performed, so it can only have been _him_ on that stage. In the aftermath, he didn't even need to _help_ Angier. Simply _not_ sabotaging the career of the man whose wife he might have killed would have been enough to satisfy me.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]They're both complete jerks to each other, and one might reasonably expect Victorian men to have more honor than either displayed. It's frankly a bit disgusting how much intrigue Nolan wrung out of these two hotheaded pricks.[/spoiler]