Wonderful story, good magic

Rating: 9/10 (3 September 2006)

Understand that when I write this, I'm biased. I'm not only a professional magician, but my act is such that I perform as a Victorian-era magician. I've done tons of reading and research on the period, not to mention the type of magic that was performed, so that's really the direction that I'm coming from. That said, I'll start with the story. I felt that the story was interesting and compelling enough to keep my attention, though I did feel that it began to drag in the last hour. I liked the way that the director made you feel the transition with Eisenheim after the situation with Sophie. You could feel his mood change. I also felt that this was probably the best performance I've ever seen from Paul Giamatti. If he doesn't at least get a nomination for best supporting actor, I'll be sorely disappointed. His portrayal of the Chief Inspector that is torn between his admiration of Eisenheim and his loyalty to a corrupt monarch was simply brilliant! Now, I'll review it as a magician...it would have been nice to have seen the magic as it was actually performed in the Victorian era, but you can't win 'em all. The fact that they used Robert-Houdin's Orange Tree, then did it with "movie magic" instead of the way that Robert-Houdin did it in the 1850's was a bit disappointing...but didn't ruin the story for me. Great movie, highly recommended.
Rick