The Illusionist

SIFF 2006, Opening Night Thursday May 25, 7:00pm The Paramount Theater Once upon a time a peasant boy and a princess fell in love. The boy was driven away, only to return an accomplished magician, intent on winning back the princess from the evil prince. Neil Burger's The Illusionist is as complex as a child's bedtime story but without an ounce of surprise or originality. Eisenheim (Edward Norton) is appropriately austere, mysterious and the effects used to create his stage fabrications are technically beautiful, but the story reads like a facsimile of been there, done that. Sophie (Jessica Biel) is ravishing and dewy-eyed but has little to do. Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell) plays a cartoonish villain and Chief Inspector Uhl (Paul Giamatti) is downright annoying. The concept and design are wonderful but bad Austrian accents, a disappointingly abrupt resolution and a tacked on montage revealing the true story further the disappointment in what might have been a much better film.

But clearly one of the most disappointing and overrated. 7.7 at IMDb? Wow, I had a very much different experience from the majority of folks here. I concede that the scenery was great, but there were a number of factors that completely ruined the film for me. Here a just a few: First, was the end supposed to be a surprise? My gosh, it was telegraphed before the "murder" ever happened. At the Big Reveal, it played like an M. Night Shyamalan wannabe flick, except way more obvious. I can't believe that many people "fell for it." I genuinely thought (or hoped) that the climax was going to *not* be that. Second, the illusions performed by Eisenheim were simply unbelievable. The fact that it was clearly CGI and not even remotely genuine illusion distracted from the authenticity of the story. If we could expect him to really do these things through trickery or actual supernatural power, then he is capable of way more than the movie delivered. He could have spirited away with Sophie in a much less contrived fashion. Third, Giamatti as the Inspector seems absolutely amused to realize that he's been a pawn manipulated to investigate a murder that never even happened, a scheme that nearly resulted in his own demise. Oh, those crazy lovers!

I have to say I was a little bit disappointed with The Illusionist. It had top-notch production values and a classy cast, but it was not quite enough. It was more of a crime/love drama than a magician story. I'm sitting there waiting for more magic tricks, and explanations for the ridiculously great acts he performs, but the story won't go there. It just focuses on the love story, like a hundred thousand other movies. To me, it was boring. It didn't deliver. Sure, I didn't see the end coming, and it was logical enough, but not that impressive. How did he create those intangible holograms? No explanation. That's just silly. I went to see "Perfume - The Story of a Murderer" on the same day as I saw The Illusionist, and the former movie was much superior. An art movie. Whereas The Illusionist is just well-produced fluff. 6 out of 10.