Don't mention The Prestige!

Rating: 7/10 (11 July 2007)

If I might start with an incredibly clichéd opening line, you wait years for a movie about magicians (which doesn't include a lightning-scarred moppet as the central protagonist) then two come along at once. And just as Armageddon followed Deep Impact, Neil Burger's The Illusionist followed Christopher Nolan's The Prestige to the screens back in the summer of 2006. Now that both are available on DVD, it gives all of us amateur film critics that populate this website a chance to evaluate them on their own strengths but in truth, the only real similarity between the two is the presence of stage magic as a plot device. And while I must admit to having enjoyed Nolan's movie far more, The Illusionist is without a doubt the more sophisticated of the two.
While The Prestige relied on showmanship and a scantily clad Scarlett Johanson you see, The Illusionist relies on acting. To put it simply, there is not a single bad performance in the entire movie. Paul Giamatti for instance is fantastic, a dignified and mature performance who comes to be the on screen foil for all of us watching the movie; perplexed by the magic, he both desires and rejects its secrets, while at the same time wishing the damn magician would just do what he's told, yet rejoicing when he doesn't. Ed Norton meanwhile puts in another reliably magnificent turn as Eisenheim the Illusionist. Norton as should be common knowledge now is one of the finest actors of his generation and he inhabits every inch of his character. As such, Eisenheim is both a brilliant man and a lonely one, with a couple of odd quirks about him, the sort of person you'd go to watch in a theatre but wouldn't stick around to collect the autograph afterwards.
They are ably backed up by Rufus Sewell as the scheming Prince Regent of Vienna and Jessica Biel as his betrothed, secretly in love with Eisenheim. Sewell is so deliciously evil he could have walked out of a Sherlock Holmes novel, while Biel shakes off any sense of being a teen pin up icon and handles herself adeptly alongside all the 'proper' actors on screen. She also seems remarkably relieved to be in a film where she can be a little more feminine than usual and not have to worry about blowing things up all the time.
Excellent though the acting may be however, the underlying story sadly, isn't as effective as you might hope. The plot synopsis on this page sums it up nicely so I won't bother to reiterate the details, but it unfortunately turns into a rather straightforward revenge drama. Compared to the cat and mouse games of the Prestige, it follows a far more linear path and isn't anywhere near as tense, intriguing or exciting.
On the plus side however, the magic tricks are a natural high point, though I'm sure there will be plenty of you out there frustrated by the lack of explanation for all of them. So while we might get a glimpse at the document which explains how Eisenheim is able to grow an orange tree out of a pip in the space of a few minutes, a glimpse is all it is. Even so, this refusal to reveal the secrets perhaps gives The Illusionist a lot of its strength, for it imbues Eisenheim with an otherworldly and supernatural air. Is he really performing all these tricks for real? No, he can't be...Watch it with the lights switched off and a few candles burning and it'll be a delightfully unreal evening.