Keeley Coleman
The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;
Darin
One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.
Staci Frederick
Blistering performances.
DKosty123
This movie has the unfortunate luck of being released the same time as The Prestige. It often gets confused with that film and it should not. This film in my opinion is just as good, and is different from the other film which makes this comparison a bit phony. A dark film using locations in the Czech Republic effectively as a back ground, magic is not really the subject here much. Illusion is more of the subject. A forbidden love between children of different classes finally gets started when after the kids are broken up because their families are of different classes, not unusual in 19th century Europe. About half way through the film, after they reunite adults, she is murdered.Edward Norton is brilliant as Eisenheim, the Illusionist whose act is beyond magic. Paul Giamatti is great as Inspector Uhl, the detective who has to cover up Jessica Biel Sophie's death for political reasons. Rufus Sewell as Crown Prince Leopold is the reason for the cover-up, in position to become King until his Sophie, his Dutchess to become Princess, is murdered.This film is a look at lost love, murder, obsession, and Illusion and is done as well as any story I have seen filmed. The illusion at the end is worth being around for. Or perhaps is it real? The film leaves it to the viewer to decide. No narrator here, the characters and events carry the story well enough to make a narrator unneeded.
Zulfiqar Ali
This Movie is my all time favorite which i have seen more then 10 times. The Illusionist is infectious mix of drama, mystery and romance. t's an exquisitely crafted period picture that keeps promising more and more as it goes along--smarter ideas, richer themes, spookier plot twists--and keeps delivering on every promise, right up until the rug- pulling and overly hasty final sequence. Eisenheim's storybook romance with Sophie (Jessica Biel), the childhood sweetheart now expected to become Leopold's princess, is the most compelling thing about a film. Sophie in childhood says when they were caught together "Make us Disappear" and when Eisenheim is back as a grownup he tells Sophie during one of his performance "Perhaps i will make you disappear" that rang a bell for Sophie, astonishing way to tell her that he is back. Overall a brilliant piece of work.
pesic-1
Magic aside, what is this really about? Why is European aristocracy mocked? The writer/director happens to be of Jewish ancestry, and the same goes for the protagonist of the film. This protagonist proceeds to conquer a pure-blooded German woman and ridicule and abuse not only German aristocracy, but the very royal family itself. And what does he do it with? Tricks. This trick of a film does not work on me. I see clearly what the filmmakers' motivations are and I find the film deeply offensive.Try and make it less transparent next time.Zero stars.
Nicole C
My friend recommended this film to me saying it reminded him of Now You See Me, though I don't see much of a correlation except for the magical element. The story is not that focused on the magical element though that does play a big part in creating the illusion of the film.The acting is great, with the chemistry sizzling between Norton and Biel. Norton carries his character well and his charisma shines through the screen. Biel too does great in her role and with the costumes smoothly fits into that time era. What really shines as well is the acting by Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Eleanor Tomlinson who play the young versions of Eisenheim and Sophie. The emotions they convey transcend the screen and feel pretty authentic.The setting of the film creates a nice atmosphere that complements the time period they are depicting. The colours have a very reminiscent feel to them with brownish and dark colours illustrating the past era. The costumes too are elegant and classy with long trench coats for the men and frilly dresses for the women- though the only female character in the film is pretty much Sophie. My goodness, I had a pretty big problem with that. Sophie was the only female character who was kind of like the other protagonist, but then she doesn't get much screen time. What. I was flipping out a little. Adding to that, I was a little peeved at the introduction of Asian characters who didn't speak and only served as muscle power.The story itself though is not entirely unpredictable, is still quite fascinating. However, I wished the film had shown more magical tricks, instead of focusing so much on the romance line. Also, the film cuts through the chronological order quite a bit which for the most part helped in creating the mystery of the story, but some bits were still a little confusing to match the events altogether. Overall though it was still a well made film with great acting and an interesting storyline.Read more movie reviews at: championangels.wordpress.com
