Wow! This is a great movie!

Rating: 9/10 (30 December 2006)

I have to say that I am shocked how good this movie was. I was more interested in seeing The Prestige which I have not seen to this point. I will withhold judgment on the Prestige but I do not see how it could be much better.
I do not want to ruin this movie for anyone. There are many twists and turns and the ending may surprise some and not others.
The movie hits hard on heavy anti government (anti-monarchy), social classes, and many perennial ideas of love, faith, truth, and even science vs religion to a degree.
I always did like magic growing up so I was interested in the movie dealing with such subject matter. If one can argue that Rocky isn't about boxing then you can certainly argue this movie isn't about magic or illusions.
The one flaw the movie had was their really didn't seem to be any chemistry involved in the love story but I honestly could not flaw the movie for this because the love story was used as a means to an end.
The Illusionist keeps you interested from the opening scene to the great finale and has a couple of magnificence performances as well as a genuine feel for the time-period in Vienna.
This is certainly in the top 3 movies of 2006.