Enjoyable but average

Rating: 5/10 (2 December 2013)

In the same vein as The Prestige, Neil Burg surfs on the wave of magic offering The Illusionist, a rather average movie that relies on a love story a lot too conventional.
If the scenes follow each other smoothly, the script is a bit too redundant with this succession of magic tricks that ends up tiring, and most importantly it lacks depth, the dramatic progression is not good and you can feel a clear lack of intensity in the unfolding of this story that ultimately has little impact. The final twist is badly written and Burger chose the easy way here, with no creativity nor subtlety whatsoever.
Too bad then because the director/writer's intentions were probably laudable, and though the movie is pretty enjoyable to watch, in the end it turns out to be flat and bland, far from the reference that is Nolan's The Prestige.