The Illusionist

Finally! Someone else agrees. All I hear is 'Illusionist' this and 'Illusionist' that whenever I mention magic movies. I guess I need to find new friends. Preferably ones with a XY gene configuration.

The Prestige > The Illusionist

I don't know where you guys are hearing so much about this movie, actually. Half the people I talk to haven't even heard of it. You make out like it was universally beloved and declared an instant classic. Hardly.

I agree that it's a bit overrated. A decent flick, but rather lightweight overall. The love story is bland and Giamatti's accent is distracting.

And the twist ending is an unbelievably huge cheat.

I don't know I went in with no expectations and really liked it.

More enjoyable than The Prestige but that was a good film as well.

Cheat? Hardly. There was nothing "twist" about the ending. It was so painfully, obviously telegraphed throughout the movie. It was intended for Giamatti's realization, not ours.

Unless you weren't paying attention.

Oh, and I liked Norton's performance. It was a nice change from the typical showboating-prancing-about-the-stage magician act we're used to.

I thought the movie was fine. I enjoyed it, but I did find the accents distracting. I thought Rufus and Paul were great, Norton was understated, but fine. Beil, however, seemed miscast. I can't put my finger on it, but she just seemed underused and less hot that I have come to expect.

I still haven't seen The Prestige, but I gave this movie 3 stars on Netflix, and I'll stick with that. I liked it, but didn't love it. Great date movie, though.

The ending didn't play fair. It was telegraphed, yes, but some of the things shown, mostly in the magic category, made me go 'What? How do you justify that?'

Like, I donno, THE HOLOGRAPHIC GHOSTS FOR INSTANCE!!?? Something that couldn't have been achieved even with modern day technology!!?? (I'm referring specifically to the scene where the holographic ghost boy walks down the aisle of the theater.)

This movie stunk. Norton was stiff and failed to create an interesting character. Giamatti was OK if for no other reason that he wasn't playing his usual shlubby self. This film coupled with the equally unimpressive DOWN IN THE VALLEY (It's TAXI DRIVER but with cowboys!) proves to me that Norton, while a great actor, has no fucking taste.

Thank you, Aqua. I didn't want to give it away for those who had not seen it.

But yes, that is precisely the scene(s) I am talking about.

I said it in the Prestige thread but...
SPOILER (highlight):
I expected the opposite explanations in both flicks because the Illusionist's tricks looked so fantastical (CGI orange tree, etc.) and the one's in the Prestige looked to be rooted in science and slight of hand (Transported Man). The opposite is true. Eisenheim's stuff was mechanical (how?) and Tesla's machine was truly magical (left field!)...
I guess both flicks succeeded in using the obligatory misdirection trappings of a magician mystery movie.

At least THE PRESTIGE was a well made film. I can forgive it its tresspasses, especially since they come from the source material. THE ILLUSIONIST was the work of a hack. I really hated the "old timey flicker" effect used in the flashbacks. It achieved the exact opposite effect it intended as the only thing I could think of was what AVID plug-in they were using, and not that I was being magically transported to the days of olde.

The more I think about this film, the more I hate it.

You misunderstand my point.

I'm going into spoilers here, assuming you've all seen it.

It's not a cheat because it couldn't have worked that way, or because it came out of left field. It's a cheat because there was no reason for it. Once her death was successfully faked, Eisenheim could have left town at any time. They were scott free. Instead, he hung around and framed an innocent man and hounded him into committing suicide before moving on. Why? To misdirect the audience, and for no other reason. That's a cheat.

To defend a movie I find largely indefensible, they did pay lip service to the fact that Rupert Sewell would mercilessly hunt them down to the end of the earth (an idea that is in itself ludicrous considering the time period) and hence the need to dispose and perhaps even kill him. Flimsy, but it's there.

That's possible, though as you say, flimsy. Of course, there's also a whole ethical argument here. Sure, the Prince was not a nice guy, but does he deserve to be hounded into taking his own life for a murder he didn't commit? And do I really want to feel happy for a couple of characters who would do such a thing? That sounds pretty hateful to me. And I really fail to understand the Inspector's great joy at having been tricked into having a hand in the death of an innocent man.

You're preaching to the choir, man. I only mentioned it because you called it a "cheat", which technically, in my opinion, it wasn't. What is was was lame. And yes, the characters were hateful.

I found it kind of refreshing that the "good guys" weren't all squeaky-clean because in the real world just about everyone is at least a tad bit morally ambiguous. But maybe I'm over-estimating the film-makers who perhaps never considered Eisenheim and Sophie a bit shady given their actions? Who knows.

Sophie faking her own death to avoid a prison-like marriage to the Crown Prince in and of itself doesn't seem that horrible to me. Not to mention that he was already abusive and had possibly killed at least one ex. Now of course Sophie and Eisenheim's plan did eventually lead to Leopold's suicide, but can we blame them for the CP taking himself out? Anyway, my favorite quote about this movie's flimsiness is this one: Now THAT was mighty strange and pretty frickin' creepy, wasn't it? By this point perhaps the Inspector realized what a jerk the Crown Prince was but given the loyalty he showed the CP earlier in the film, the joyful laughter in this scene doesn't really jive does it?

Learning about someone in true life pulling off a Sophie/Eisenheim type scheme would be quite different. I'd certainly be less forgiving. But I don't watch movies to ensure that justice is served in the world that the characters live in unless perhaps I'm watching a documentary. Whatever. I won't try to argue down or dismiss most of the crtiticisms that some of you have crapped at The Illusionist. True - there are lots of inconsistencies, forced visual gimmicks, and some of the accents are strange (but I don't think any of them are horrible). Still, none of this kept me from enjoying the hell out of this movie. As for the performances - Norton and Giamatti were very good and Biehl did just fine. I never actually made a list but I'm sure that I'd put this one in my top 10 for 2006.

A bit behind in regards to this film, but I just got around to watching it and felt like commenting on the above. To Prince's Leopold's knowledge, Biel is dead. I see no reason why he would search the Earth for Eisenheim if he thinks that. The only thing I could see fitting is that Norton was punishing the Prince because of his plans to overthrow the Emperor and the belief that he had murdered another girl. Flimsy, indeed. And, I was really taken out of the film with the overuse of cgi on the illusions. Can't say I'll ever feel the need to revisit this one.

From what I had read, all the illusions were period accurate. I don't think that's true, but I definitely heard it.

The concepts of the illusions may have been period accurate (not really sure about that. Will have to do some research), but the way they are depicted in the film are so outlandish that they are unbelievable in the period the film is set.

I suspended my disbelief the moment they were speaking English in Vienna, then had a good time the rest of the movie, until the disapointing end.

It's okay, but it's better in character than it is in plot. I actually really liked Rufus Sewell in this, playing a slightly more believable version of the bellowing villain he's played before. Norton is good, Giamatti is great, the asthetic is nice.

But yeah, lots of issues otherwise, all of which have been pointed out already. The ending seems unnecessary, I actually found it more dramatically satisfying to see Norton exact his revenge on Sewell rather than frame him for a non-murder and live happily ever after.

I would have been more forgiving of the ending if the movie had found a better way of conveying the "twist" instead of ripping off the Usual Suspects almost shot for shot. I more than half expected Norton to say, "And like that... he was gone," right before the credits started rolling.

Memory plays tricks on us

Given that every magic trick in the movie takes place during the flashback/story by Giamatti's character which makes up the body of the film, I just assumed that we were seeing, not what happened, but how he remembered it. Magic tricks, particularly if intended to appear genuinely supernatural/psychic, usually grow and become more impressive in memory - this is why annecdotal accounts aren't trusted as evidence of psychic phenomena, because when a magician explains how the trick was done, the person who saw it will usually remember a different, impossible version.

That said, I really loved the movie, and I'm sure this will sound like rationalization to those who didn't. Maybe not as good as The Prestige, but highly enjoyable to me and just what I'd wanted going in.

I prefer this one to The Prestige, to be honest.

in The Prestige, they explain that the trick itself is what people like and are fascinated by, and not the secret. "The secret impresses nobody."

and that is where i see a huge difference between these two movies, which just had the unfortunate chance of coming out at the same time, hence forever being lumped together. The Prestige was more about the movie and how well it was made and how the information was doled out to the audience. whereas in The Illusionist, they are more concerned with trying to hide the secret from you until the ending, when they reveal the secret in a very dramatic and "look at this" fashion. they don't care so much about the trick itself, as they feel the ending will justify it all. and they end up with a "meh" movie and a "blah" ending.