THE ILLUSIONIST

"Ladies and Gentlemen..."

Eisenheim (Norton) was the talk of turn-of-the-century Vienna. His illusions mesmerised audiences, defying all explanation and giving him the reputation of being a practitioner of the dark arts. This brought him to the attention of the Crowned Prince Leopold (Sewell) and his chief of police Inspector Uhl (Giamatti), who are both intrigued and suspicious of him. When the Prince attends a performance accompanied by his fiancée Sophia (Biel), Eisenheim recognises her as his lost love from his childhood and sets out to use all of his skills to finally be with her.

Magicians have always mesmerised audiences around the world but can that magic transfer itself to film?

Hollywood is never one to miss a trick and turn of the century magicians can be fascinating subjects for period dramas. With the success of Christopher Nolan's 'The Prestige', Neil Burger's story of an illusionist who wows audiences in Vienna with tricks that defy explanation but it is noticeably different from Nolan's story of warring magicians.

This is a story of impossible love between a performer and the betrothed of the Crowned Prince of Austria. For Eisenheim, seeing Sophia again for the first time since his childhood brought back feelings he had long forgotten. She still also has those feelings again and the pair start a clandestine affair. When word gets back to the Prince he doesn't take this lightly, forcing his Chief of Police Inspector Uhl to investigate the pair. This leads to tragedy and Eisenheim taking his magic to a whole new place, contacting the dead.

Coming mystery and magic successfully was always going to be trick to pull off but the film succeeds in creating the illusion. After the initial set up and the introduction of the love affair between Eisenheim and Sophia, the film comes into its own with twist and turns a plenty and a new illusion that would mesmerise not only the audience in the film but you as you watch it. The storyline keeps you captivated throughout but the ending is a little predictable, of you are paying attention.

The performances in a movie like this need to be magical and for the most part they are. Paul Giamatti is as good as ever as Inspector Uhl, commanding the screen every time his graces it. No stranger to playing a villain, Rufus Swell is exceptionally good as Crowned Prince Leopold stealing the film from all the other performers. Jessica Biel proves there is more to her than just beauty as Sophia. The only let down is the surprisingly average performance of Edward Norton in the lead role of Eisenheim. He is extremely subdued in this performance, which might have been the thinking for the mentality and concentration of the character but he just doesn't seem up to his usual standard.

'The Illusionist' is a movie with plenty of tricks up its sleeve and a little bit of prestige during the finale. The film might not be as magic as it could have been but the recreation of the era and the visual style of the movie is first rate, it is just a shame that Edward Norton lacks some of the showmanship needed to pull of the complete illusion.

PICTURE & SOUND

Presented in Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1 with a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, the movie is presented well.

BONUS FEATURES

Audio Commentary with director Neil Burger
The man who adapted Steven Millhauser's short story and bought it to the silver screen, explains the process of bringing the story to the silver screen. He talks extensively about the changes he made to the original story, the new characters he added and how this impacted the overall structure of the story. He also chats about casting the piece and what it was like shooting in Prague. This is a good single person commentary track.

The Making of The Illusionist (14.50 mins)
Director Neil Burger, magic consultant James Freeman and stars Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti, Jessica Biel, Rufus Sewell and Aaron Johnson talk you behind the scenes of 'The Illusionist'. The cast and crew talk about the difference between what is real and what is illusion in bringing a story of magic to the silver screen. The characters, the historical setting and how the director and the actors became involved is also discussed in this decent featurette.

Trailer (2.23 mins)
Watch the theatrical trailer for 'The Illusionist'

Trailers
Previews of 'Amazing Grace', 'The Painted Vail' and 'The Hoax'

OVERALL

The DVD treatment for 'The Illusionist' is a little disappointing. While the commentary track and the featurette are fine but there should have being a featurette covering the visual effects of the movie but then again a magician can't give away their tricks.

DVD

The Prestige

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2007