Fellman's Movie Reviews

The Illusionist is a 2006 romantic mystery starring Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti, and Jessica Biel. The film revolves around “Eisenheim the Illusionist”, a magician in Vienna at the turn of the century. His magic act finds him reunited with his lost love from his childhood and gets him involved in a much deeper conspiracy involving the Crown Prince and the Chief Inspector. The Wikipedia page says that this film was both a critical and financial success when it came out, but I have to tell you, I don’t remember ever hearing about this movie back when it was released. And I never would have seen it if my wife hadn’t recommended watching it. It was completely unknown to me.  

It’s not a bad movie. It’s not my preferred genre of movie that I typically watch. I’m a comedy person. I like things that make me laugh. Dramatic movies are not only downers, but also kind of boring. As this one was. It moved pretty slowly. And I know it’s not an action movie, so I’m not expecting it to move fast, but even for a drama, it kind of dragged on. A lot of the dialogue is flat and emotionless, as are the people delivering the lines. 

That’s one of the problems I really had with the movie. The acting, I think, was subpar from everybody except Paul Giamatti. I think he did a fantastic job, with his role at least. But the delivery from almost everybody else was so unenthusiastic that it made it seem like they were just there because somebody made them do it. It didn’t really seem like they wanted to be in the movie. I’m not an acting coach or anything, but if somebody like me is getting that kind of vibe, maybe you should try harder? 

The movie itself is based off of a true series of events. So the script isn’t entirely fictionalized. Nonetheless, what is written could have been done better. The scenes in Eisenheim’s magic shows, most of the investigations by the Chief Inspector, the flashbacks to Eduard and the Duchess when they were young, even. All of these things could have been more intriguing than they were. They were part of the story, sure. But they seemed like they were almost filler material.  

I did like the end though. When it all gets tied together. That is one part of the movie that I thought turned out nicely. For as slow and boring as it moved along, I thought that it came together nicely at the end. I even said out loud “I like that. That’s pretty good.” to my wife as she was sitting next to me as I was watching it. And once again, Paul Giamatti really played a part in making the end of the movie work well. 

So, meh? I honestly think this is the first time that I can genuinely say that I can go either way on this movie. If drama is your thing, you will probably like this movie. It’s an alright movie. If you normally don’t watch dramas, I don’t think this is the movie to convert you. It’s not that great of a movie. It’s like plain vanilla ice cream. You can take it or leave it. On the one hand, it’s ice cream, so it’s still kind of good. But on the other hand, it could be a whole lot better. Movies and ice cream, just like Grandma used to make. And as always, keep on watching, with a smile on your face…