The Illusionist

Viewer Rating:MarkW has rated The Illusionist rating: 1.5 Star

As tempting as it is to be original and not mention The Prestige in reference to this piece, it's nigh on impossible. Comparisons abound but are quite unfair, as this film, despite starting from the same premise, goes in a completely opposite direction. The road more travlelled which it pursues is that of love, and in truth the film in as much about its spell as those cast by its title character. That character is Eisenheim, played by Norton who once again sleepwalks his way through decent role, giving the impression that he's beginning to think this acting lark is beneath him. When Norton is compared to Peter O'Toole in another current release, Venus, the latter's expressiveness eclipses the deadpan drole portrayals which litter Norton's career. Paul Giamatti offers much better fare as the policeman who becomes obsessed with the Eisenheim, and is rapidly becoming one of the best and most underrated actors of his generation. The film is set in Vienna which, as usual for such Hollywood endevours, necessitates that all characters speak with caricatured Austrian accents, for no apparent reason since the realism is somewhat dwarfed by the fact that THEY'RE ALL SPEAKING ENGLISH ANYWAY!!! Quite why the industry pursues this ridiculous tokenism is beyond me, particularly as the practice is not pursued in films beyond a certain date (somwhere in the middle of the 19th Century, since you asked), such as Marie Antionette, The Merchant of Venice or any of the recent epics, none of which are any less regarded for their actors accents, aside from Dublin's own Alexander of course. That however is another argument, for the moment it is suffice to say that this is an adequately distracing tale, charmingly told, and ultimately harmless, however it does seem to lack something in the way of, well, prestige.

Review published on the 19 March 2007 21:56