The Illusionist
(dir.Neil Burger)
Ed Norton, Paul Giamatti, Jessica Biel and Rufus Sewell in this turn-of-the-century tricksy magician drama.
Norton's got the skills to pay the Viennese bills here, wowing Crown Prince Sewell and his fiancee Biel with his onstage wizardry, while court cop Giamatti tries to figure out how he's doing everything. Biel turns out to be Norton's long-lost childhood squeeze; hey-presto, the magic's still there.
Looks a lot like The Prestige, but it's less of a cheat than that turned out to be, although the whole "nothing is what it seems" line doesn't really hold up, as it's all ultimately predictable and the "woah, is that what's just happened?!!" ending they're going for is so obvious that you're left wondering why Officer Giamatti's such a doofus and the only person in the room who hasn't seen it all coming.
That said, their combined charisma just about carries it along; more a dvd than a cinema outing probably.
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