Excellent

Rating: 10/10 (22 January 2007)

Illusionist Eisenheim (Norton) recognizes his former childhood love Sophie (Biel) who is assisting in a magic trick on stage and becomes smitten again. Prince Leopold (Sewell) sees the possibility of Sophie slipping away from him and wants Eisenheim shut down. Oh, oh, can Eisenheim make the prince disappear?
This is a movie worth watching for pure entertainment. It is nicely paced, has good acting, dialogue and oh, yes, magic. What's not to like? Of course, the magic is movie magic, but who cares? It's all very well done. And, watching Inspector(Giamatti) Uhl (where do they get these names from?) try to discover how Eisenheim does his magic is a joy unto itself. We hope he will fail because we like Eisenheim and Sophie. Edward Norton seems to have an ability to really initiate good chemistry with his leading ladies. You buy into the relationship fast.
Yes, there is a little bit of The Sting and The Usual Suspects in here and one could expect no less. I am not advocating the movie or the stars for an Oscar, but it was truly amazing. Was it the mirrors? Anyway, very good entertainment. Need more like this one.
Violence: Yes
Sex: There is a sex scene, but you see nothing and you are not sure what parts of a body you are seeing. Goes by kind of fast too.
Nudity: No
Language: No