Interesting but not compelling

Rating: 6/10 (15 March 2007)

I had been looking forward to seeing this film as I am an Ed Norton fan and thought the story sounded very intriguing. The Illusionist tells the story of a magician whose powers verge on the supernatural and his love for a woman destined to marry the cruel and corrupt Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell). He tries to use his 'magic' to save her from this fate.
The plot itself is fairly simple, most of which is at least hinted at in the trailer. One disappointing part was the transparency of certain 'plot twists' which were so glaringly obvious I was convinced they couldn't happen, but they did. A lot of criticism has been levelled at the film for the ambiguity of whether Eisenheim was purely an illusionist or actually performed magic. I think this is slightly unfair as explaining the tricks performed would take away some of the films mystery, but ultimately I think the film concludes he was the former.
Norton is on form as always and the acting is good all round. There are no standout performances but no let downs either.
The pace of the film is quite slow, gradually introducing you to Eisenheim's character before commencing with the story being told. Visually the film is very good, the way it is shot suits the setting very well.
I found the ending a little hard to swallow - bit too happy ever after for my liking, think it would have been much more suitable to have a dark ending.
Overall this is a fairly entertaining film which is let down by the obvious plot twists, twee ending and slightly slow pace. Worth watching, especially for Ed Norton fans but not a standout piece of his work.