Overrated...a good film, but far from great

Rating: 5/10 (19 January 2007)

My cousin has been raving non-stop about this film since last summer when it opened. I didn't see it in theaters (though I regretted not after hearing his praise) so I was eager to rent it when it arrived on DVD. It did sooner than expected and I rented it a week after it made it's premiere on the shelves. First off, let me start by saying my cousin isn't going to be very fond of my review. But I will continue. The movie is shown in flashbacks and opens with Eisenheim the Illusionist, a traveling magician, being arrested. We see the movie as it goes through different time periods, from when Eisenheim was a young boy to him grown up as a traveling magician. He is instantly famed for doing tricks absolutely no one can figure out. But, as Eisenheim says so himself, everything is an illusion. One very good thing about this film was the cinematography. The colors used and camera angles were all very, very, very well done especially the mysteriously filmed sex scene. The storyline was interesting enough, and the acting was very good, but what I found about this film was that is was tedious. I had to fight myself to keep awake during a few select scenes (maybe it was because I started it at 10:30 at night but I'm not sure) and that a lot of it was redundant. I can definitely see why others really like this film but it didn't strike me as something that I would watch over and over again. It's a good film, but it's far from great.