The Illusionist (2006)

If The Prestige had a sister it would be The Illusionist as the movie is based on a magician however not to the level of Nolan’s Masterpiece, but to be fair, it's is not about the rivalry of two magicians, it’s a love story instead.

Though it comes from Neil Burger however it isn’t as thrilling as his Limitless (2011), although it does carry an impressive cast Edward Norton, Jessica Beil & my favorite Paul Giamatti & last but not the least Rufus Sewell.

The plot is simple but good acting and a small twist add essence to it.

Origin

It is based on a short story by Steven Millhauser known as Eisenheim the Illusionist, however it does have some relation to a true incident known as Mayerling incident
.
You can relate it to the movie minus the magic, so there was a prince, a princess and a murder mystery as well.


IMDB -7.6

Rotten Tomatoes -74%

Run Time : 110 MIN

Rating

Plot Twist - 6/10

Well, the plot twist is not amazing but good as it has the best time of deliverance and the possibility never hits your mind as it justifies the title very well.

Acting - 6/10

Not one of the best performances of Edward Norton and Jessica Beil hence the rating but we do have other actors worth mentioning,

Paul Giamatti – We know him from so many movies but yet he is the right character in every movie, his character in each movie is significant and he does it so well. He could be the bad villain from Shoot Em Up or a small but effective one from The Amazing Spider-man 2 (Rhino) and of course we have Cinderella Man, the list is endless, point being the guy is as versatile as they come.

Rufus Sewell – Hard to recognize but his skills speak for himself, we have seen him in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter as Adam & Dark City 

Direction -6/10

Nothing outstanding about the direction, but no complaints either.

Location– 8/10

Vienna, Czech Republic, Austria & Prague. The visuals are amazing especially in the times when the movie was set the 1800s

Best Lines

Are you completely corrupt?

No, not completely, which is why I’ll advise you not to accuse anyone.
I thought we might end this evening with a discussion of the soul. All of the greatest religions speak of the soul’s endurance beyond the end of life. So what then does it mean to die?

Conclusion

The movie isn't bad at all, in fact some of you might actually enjoy it. It's just that after having seen a lot of movies which have a higher degree of plot twists and a story one can connect to better. It just falls short.