2008 Woodie Awards
The Illusionist fails to incite emotions
Megan Gallagher
Issue date: 9/5/06 Section: Arts
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There are three seasons in the life of a film-buff: the sluggish, blockbuster-driven season of disappointing money-makers, characterized by big stars and bad scripts; the award season, when the studios unleash their much anticipated Oscar-hopefuls; and the season of the "wannabes," when mediocre films are released strategically between award season and Blockbuster season, hoping to prey on the anxious and the jaded. Neil Burger's The Illusionist falls into the third category. Neither horrible nor compelling enough to incite an experience worth remembering, the film fades into the mid-year landscape of cinematic mediocrity, easily forgiven and forgotten when award season finally kicks off.
Set in twentieth-century Vienna, The Illusionist is a story of romance, magic and murder, with a dash of lightweight politics and socioeconomic struggle. An awe-inspiring, albeit CGI-aided, magician, Eisenheim (played surprisingly unconvincingly by Edward Norton), is adored by the public and scrutinized by the law-officials; he struggles to pursue a relationship with a duchess (Jessica Biel) who, for a variety of clichéd reasons, is always just out of his reach. Eisenheim may possess the power to make an entire orange tree grow within mere seconds, but he cannot seem to successfully procure the love and companionship of his childhood love, as the class differences that separate them seem far more powerful than any measure of magic.
Despite the mildly intriguing magic tricks, beautiful cinematography and wonderful supporting performances (especially those of Rufus Sewell and Paul Giamatti), The Illusionist failed to ever conjure within me a genuine emotional response and feeling of ultimate satisfaction. Rather, the superficial characters and plot are never more than mere distractions, a 110-minute piece of rather dull escapism - perhaps the one thing that escapism should never be. The twists and alleged surprises are never quite enough to compensate for the lackluster, underdeveloped bulk of the film, and would only, at very most, trick the audience into imagining the presence of substance or plot. Do not be fooled - The Illusionist is not a bad film, but it is never more than an illusion of a good one.
2.5 out of 4 stars
Set in twentieth-century Vienna, The Illusionist is a story of romance, magic and murder, with a dash of lightweight politics and socioeconomic struggle. An awe-inspiring, albeit CGI-aided, magician, Eisenheim (played surprisingly unconvincingly by Edward Norton), is adored by the public and scrutinized by the law-officials; he struggles to pursue a relationship with a duchess (Jessica Biel) who, for a variety of clichéd reasons, is always just out of his reach. Eisenheim may possess the power to make an entire orange tree grow within mere seconds, but he cannot seem to successfully procure the love and companionship of his childhood love, as the class differences that separate them seem far more powerful than any measure of magic.
Despite the mildly intriguing magic tricks, beautiful cinematography and wonderful supporting performances (especially those of Rufus Sewell and Paul Giamatti), The Illusionist failed to ever conjure within me a genuine emotional response and feeling of ultimate satisfaction. Rather, the superficial characters and plot are never more than mere distractions, a 110-minute piece of rather dull escapism - perhaps the one thing that escapism should never be. The twists and alleged surprises are never quite enough to compensate for the lackluster, underdeveloped bulk of the film, and would only, at very most, trick the audience into imagining the presence of substance or plot. Do not be fooled - The Illusionist is not a bad film, but it is never more than an illusion of a good one.
2.5 out of 4 stars
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