Period Thriller -- Very Well Executed

Rating: 9/10 (9 May 2008)

The "Illusionist" is a well-made movie with excellent performances from Edward Norton as the maker of illusions, Jennifer Biel as the aristocrat he loves and Paul Giamatti as a detective inspector in the service of the Austro-Hungarian Embassy. The script is tightly driven, maintaining a surprisingly high degree of tension considering that many of the scenes toward the end of the movie consist of Eisenheim (Norton's character) sitting in a chair on an empty stage staring out at the audience until a person apparently materializes on stage, says a few words and then vanishes into the thin air from which he or she originally came. The fourth principal in the film is a prince of the empire, to whom Biel's character is affianced. The prince, who is plotting to stage a coup ousting his father, becomes Eisenheim's deadly enemy, operating through the detective inspector, hoping to become a grand figure if his patron succeeds in his plot. It is highly enjoyable.