The Illusionist
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Review: A midly entertaining showcase of 19th century trickery.
Set in Vienna at the turn of the 19th century, Edward Norton plays a mysterious magician named Eisenheim, whose trickery is capturing the imaginations of the masses. His show-stopping tricks go far beyond any magician before him, and many begin to believe that Eisenheim may in fact possess magical powers. When the Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell) is baffled by the trickery, he sets out to uncover the reality behind the magic. Vienna's Chief Inspector Uhl (Paul Giamatti) is committed to discovering the truth behind Eisenheim, but the magician refuses to cooperate, leading to a battle of wits.
The Crown Prince's bride-to-be, Sophie von Teschen, actually knows Eisenheim from childhood, and the two soon find themselves rekindling feelings of a youthful attraction. She is fascinated by the bold and mysterious Eisenheim, quickly realizing that her pending matrimony to the insecure, volatile Leopold is bound to end in misery. Part love triangle, part police investigation and part magical showcase, The Illusionist is an intriguing tale of royalty and theatrics in 19th century Vienna.
The Illusionist is directed by Neil Burger (Interview with the Assassin) from a script Berger based on the short story by Steven Millhauser.
Comparisons to Christopher Nolan's hotly-anticipated upcoming holiday release, The Prestige, are unavoidable. That film features an impressive cast list as well, including Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale and Scarlett Johansson amongst others. Both occur around the same time period in Europe, although Eisenheim is faced with a police investigator instead of a rival magician. As bizarre as it seems, this Hollywood trend of two films with similar stories releasing close to one another is an ongoing tradition, especially in recent years. I'm not really sure how or why it keeps happening, but for better or worse, the Illusionist has beaten The Prestige to the punch as the first turn of the 19th century European magician film of 2006.
The jump-off point for The Illusionist works well enough. Much like the audiences that come to watch Eisenheim, film audiences will enjoy watching the magic tricks performed, especially in light of the fact that many of these amazing tricks were actually performed at the time. I suspect many audiences will never believe this, but the true historical basis is fascinating stuff.
There's nothing especially bad about The Illusionist, it just never steps above and beyond an average thriller mystery. The feel is more like a TNT original than a theatrical release featuring a cast of this magnitude. It's entertaining enough to pass the time, but it isn't worth going out of your way for.
For all of the flare presented during Eisenheim's act, the non-magical moments are pretty mundane. Biel is gorgeous and very appealing, but the story of their love is dull and typical. They don't share a great amount of chemistry either, but then again, as great an actor as Norton is, I can't remember seeing him share true chemistry with any actress. He hasn't played the romantic lead much, but maybe there's a reason.
Giamatti's battle of wits with Norton provides a suitable side drop to all the illusions. Norton and Giamatti are such great actors that seeing them square off is a treat in itself. Unfortunately, Berger plays the entire film relatively safe, so there isn't as much meat as you might hope for in their encounters.
Rufus Sewell, who looks radically different than he did way back in Dark City (plastic surgery, anyone?), seems to have found a temporary niche for himself playing smug, evil royalty. He works as the villain, even if Leopold is a bit cartoonish and one-dimensional.
It's hard to avoid the overall ho-hum reaction to The Illusionist in the end. Such a great cast, a great story, some very cool magic. There's got to be something more here, right? It's an entertaining film that passes the time, but it doesn't make the lasting impression I was hoping for.
posted by Evil @ 6:09 AM,
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