Almost great, but something essential is missing

Rating: 7/10 (24 March 2007)

This stylish story of deception and intrigue takes place in early 20th century Vienna. Eisenheim the Illusionist (Edward Norton) comes to town and stuns the crowds with his nearly--possibly supernatural magic tricks. Even the Crown Prince is intrigued. It so happens that the crown prince's fiancée Sophie (Jessica Biel) and Eisenheim were best of friends in childhood until her parents forbade her association with a commoner. When they become reacquainted, they spark an affair, which causes the prince to kill Sophie in a drunken rage. Eisenheim knows the prince did it and tries to subtly have him accused. The prince won't have any of this an orders his faithful, but just, chief Inspector (Paul Giamati) to shut down Eisenheim.
The director maintains a mysterious and dark mood throughout the movie in this well-paced period piece. The actors do justice to their role and the story draws one in. The ending, which is meant to be surprising, can be guessed at by the savvy viewer who has developed her skills watching Buffy, Veronica Mars and Lost. I enjoyed the movie, and would possibly watch it again, but it wouldn't hold up to multiple viewings as well as some.
This movie is like a blue peanut M&M with only a half a peanut inside. The crisp candy shell gives way to a less sweet chocolate (Mars Inc. took months to perfect the chocolate, making it less sweet, hence less satisfying, thus increasing consumption). When you realize the peanut is minuscule, you experience a slight disappointment, although an M&M with only half a peanut is better than a plain M&M which is better than celery any day. 7/10 http://blog.myspace.com/locoformovies