If I say too much, I'll spoil it for you, but here's what I can tell you. Christian Bale plays Alfred Borden, a gifted magician without much hint of showmanship; Hugh Jackman plays Robert Angier, a gifted showman without much hint of magicianship. After a falling out between the two partners, both go solo and try to out-do and even kill the other, on-stage and off-stage. Things eventually come to a head over The Transported Man, a trick in which one magician is seen to disappear and reappear on the other side of the stage just a second later.

That's it. I can't tell you any more than that without ruining it for you. There is, however, a surprisingly good cameo by David Bowie as Nikolas Tesla, the well known Serb scientist. Who'd have thought that sentence was ever going to be written?

The direction is first rate, the acting a little less so, with just about every member of the cast putting on an accent other than their own (Jackman puts on three, but he's a show-off). It's well written and will require your concentration at almost all times. But the denouement will leave you cheated if you didn't guess it: it's kind of like watching a magic trick and then be told it was done using a combination of a regular handkerchief and magic dust from the land of Middle Earth. Even if you do guess it, though, it's fascinating to see how the script was crafted to give you the clues and to see the effects on the characters.

As the Kermode says, Christopher Nolan films are a bit like doing Sudoku puzzles (he also directed Memento), but provided you can ignore Scarlett Johannsson, it's worth watching if you fancy some intellectual stimulation.

Cinema used for the review: Odeon Beckenham, screen 6. In contrast to screen 3, this has a far greater incline for the seats, so I was able to sit up straight and not destroy my back, as with Casino Royale. No air con, because the building's listed, but that wasn't a problem in this relatively unpacked screening.

Here's the trailer: