The Illusionist (2006)

After watching The Prestige I was still in the mood for more magic, and from the very same release year The Illusionist got a lot of good reviews. Starring Edward Norton in the lead sounds good, and it is, but I'm not nearly as impressed by Jessica Biel as many others seems to be. I'm actually also talking about her looks now, as there's actually quite a lot of people less impressed by her acting.

The Illusionist takes us back to turn-of-the-century Vienna to the heydays of magic and the absolute powers of royalty. Our illusionist Eisenheim comes to Vienna and charms the town with his skills, to such a degree the Crown Prince appears at one of his shows. As coincidences goes it turns out the girlfriend of the Crown Prince, Duchess von Teschen, is a childhood friend of the illusionist. A childhood friend whom turned into a girlfriend, but their differences in social standings drove them apart. In fact that's why young Eisenheim left home and learned illusions in the first place. Now faith have brought them close again, but a spoiled Crown Prince and his Chief Inspector will make sure there's no renewed love between the cabinetmakers son and the Duchess.

The Illusionist aims high, but it doesn't hit. There's no epic romance, there's no drama worth remembering and the illusions doesn't capture us in a time were film tricks can do anything. Norton in the lead and the support from Paul Giamatti as Crown Prince Leopold's Chief Inspector is the reasons to bare with the story. As a funny trivia it might be worth noting Aaron Johnson has a small role as the young Eisenheim, last seen here at Motion Pictures on the fly as John Lennon in Nowhere Boy and last seen by everyone else in Kick-Ass which I'm about to see soon.