Movie Review - The Illusionist

The Illusionist (2 of 5): This film is set in early 1900s Vienna and centers on a magician who falls for an aristocrat well above his social standing. They fall in love, but when she becomes engaged to the Crown Prince, the master magician must use his powers to free her from her unwanted marriage.

Pretty basic story really, with the added element of magic. There are some strong actors in this movie (Ed Norton, Paul Giamatti) and they do their best, but the material just doesn't justify their work or their forced period accents. When it all comes down to it, this movie fails as both a drama and a mystery.

I never felt like I really cared about the characters because the stories all felt too rushed, especially the love story. Also, early in the movie you can pretty much figure out exactly how this one is going to play out. Then, the end offers this big "M. Night Shyamalan-esque" reveal as the inspector pieces everything together, which just comes across as hoaky and unnecessary. Finally, I hated how there was no explanation at all of how the Illusionist was performing his tricks! I understand that magicians need to have their secrets (even in movies), but there was absolutely no description of how he was pulling off some major illusions. This is very frustrating because the movie leads you to believe that he has supernatural powers and can conjure up dead spirits yet never explains if that is the case. Add to these complaints a handful of plot-holes and you have yourself a pretty mediocre movie.

Skip this one. Instead, I encourage you to watch last year's other magician movie, The Prestige. It was far superior.