Very Underrated Movie

Rating: 10/10 (20 January 2007)

I saw this movie on DVD about 5 months after it first came out in theaters. I don't understand why it hasn't received more acclaim.
The plot kept me going all the way thru and the ending got me much in the same way that the ending of Usual Suspects did when it turned out that Verbal Kint was really Kaiser Soze. I never considered the possibility of that ending in either movie and it worked brilliantly both times.
I almost expected Inspector Uhl to catch up with Eisenheim on the train and say words to the effect that "This is going to be the beginning of a beautiful friendship" but wasn't to be, perhaps for the better.
I don't know enough about magic or magicians, but I wonder if there was ever a real magician who could even come close to doing some of the tricks that Eisenheim did? Even though you know it's the movie's special effects doing those tricks, for the most part, you still believe it a magician is doing them. Having said that, though, I think if a magician could perform those tricks today on a stage, he'd make a pretty good living.