Film: The Illusionist

[SA]

http://www.theillusionist.com/

Edward Norton
Paul Giamatti
Jessica Biel

A supernatural mystery that combines romance, politics and magic, The Illusionist stars Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti as two men pitted against each other in a battle of wits: Norton as mysterious stage magician Eisenheim, and Giamatti as Vienna's shrewd Chief Inspector Uhl, with Jessica Biel sharing the screen as the beautiful Sophie von Teschen. When word of Eisenheim's astounding illusions reaches the powerful and pragmatic Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell), the ruler attends one of the magician's shows in order to debunk Eisenheim during the performance. But when the Prince's intended, Sophie von Teschen, assists the magician onstage, Eisenheim and Sophie recognize each other from their childhoods—and a dormant love affair is rekindled. As the clandestine romance continues, Uhl is charged by Leopold to intensify his efforts to expose Eisenheim, even while the magician gains a devoted and vocal public following. With Uhl doggedly searching for the reasons and the man behind the trickery, Eisenheim prepares to execute his greatest illusion yet.

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This was a somewhat drawn out, but not boring film. It reminded me a lot of some of M. Night Shyamalan's works. Especially the score added to that feeling. The accents were not so well done, in my opinion, and the ending was not the strongest, but overall it was enjoyable. Perhaps this should have been a Shyamalan production. Maybe then I would have given it four out of five. As it stands, three is what I rate it.

The strangest part is just last week a friend and I were talking about how it would be great to see Norton in a good film some time soon.

 

[Benefit]

This is a very good film.

It moves a lot slower than The Prestige, and it's much subtler, but it's hard to say either one is the superior film. I do think Jessica Biel was miscast; she doesn't have the right aesthetic appeal to make the rekindled childhood romance that underpins the plot work. Someone like Scarlett Johansson would have been a much better fit because, let's face is, she's a lot hotter than Jessica Biel and that's what you need. They needed a leading lady who is so heart-breakingly beautiful the audience falls in love with her instantly. Maybe Jessica Biel does it for some of you dudes, but not for me.

Otherwise, Ed Norton turns in a fine performance and Rufus Sewell as the Crown Prince was a total scene stealer. Paul Giamatti is so-so; everyone's been all high on this guy since Sideways (which was not even that great a film) but he's completely overrated. Let's not forget his stellar career has included such hits as Thunderpants, a "2002 family film about a boy whose incredible capacity for flatulence gets him a job as an astronaut."

Set design, costuming and general production value goes to The Prestige, but there's some cool location shooting in The Illusionist. The scene composition and cinematography in this film are excellent. Most of the shots are framed with a sense of balanced, geometric proportion and lighting and shutter speed are manipulated to great effect. The CGI is minimal but integrated into the flow of the film very well, which is exactly what you want in an under-stated film like this.

As for the ending, it was a total cop-out. And they cheat with the magic tricks. How did he do those? The orange tree is, apparently, based on an actual trick performed by Robert Houdin but there's no way you could make an orange tree grow like that with any sort of mechanical contraption. So... they definitely use CGI to cheat on the supposedly "realistic" portrayal of magic tricks, but I'll let it slide since it makes for an entertaining flick.

 

[vibr8tor]

I liked it. 'course, it was a trippy night when I watched it, so the movie may have been a little more enhanced on my tv. but effed up or not, Benefit's wrong. Jessica Biel is hot. Jennifer Beals...not so much.

 

[ihateecstacy]

i heard nothing but good things about this movie but couldn't help but think it looked dumb.

upon watching it i was proven to be right.

i mean the movie is called the illusionist... so that just lays out the whole movie for you. i predicted the whole damn thing. i don't see why anyone liked it.

 

[ghtto_cwby]

My friend told me she seen it and she said it was an excellent movie, she recommended it to me but I haven't had the chance to watch it yet.

 

[Benefit]

i mean the movie is called the illusionist... so that just lays out the whole movie for you. i predicted the whole damn thing. i don't see why anyone liked it.

It's just like going to a magic show. You know you're going to be tricked; the entertainment is all in the showmanship and how the trick is rendered for the audience.

 

[LiveIllegal]

Just caught this and thought it was a surprisingly good film. Yes, most of the illusions were pretty unlikely, but it's a fucking movie. You're supposed to suspend disbelief for the duration. And the film engrossed me enough to let me do that, even though I was at first turned off by the dubiousness of Eisenheim's "illusions". And yes, I predicted the ending a little early on, but it was still a nice twist and I was quite satisfied by the end.

And Benefit I don't know what the fuck you are talking about. Scarlett Johansson is nowhere near as fine as Jessica Biel. I mean that azz...

Spoiler: the illusionist

I was very upset when her character dies in the film.

 

[alasdairm]

rate this movie

alasdair

 

[Banquo]

Paul Giamatti is really good in this. The Prestige is more substantial, but The Illusionist has a lot of great things in it too. Cool fade outs going on.

 

[drew345]

I dunno I really like edward norton but I didnt really like this movie. It just never grabbed my attention.

 

[psychetool]

I liked this movie quite a bit, much better story then The Prestige in my opinion. Characters were a lot more likable. I couldn't stand either of those snotty fucks in 'The Prestige'.