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The Illusionist
Starring: Edward Norton, Jessica Biel, Paul Giamatti Directed by: Neil Burger Rated PG-13 Original Release Year: 2006 Genre: Drama Synopsis: A magician is accused of using devil works to pull off the greatest illusion of all time. My Thoughts: It is no secret that my favorite actor of all time is Edward Norton, and this is one of his best performances. Scorecard Acting- Edward Norton stars as Eisenheim the Illusionist, in perhaps his best performance since Primal Fear. He was incredibly believable as the sad stricken magician with nothing really left to live for. Paul Giamatti plays Inspector Uhl, in a very good performance, and the gorgeous Jessica Beil plays Sophie, in a decent enough job to make her believable as a love interest (meaning she stood there and looked good, and didn't say a whole lot.) The overall cast was incredible. (1) Direction- Neil Burger directs this great cast to awe inspiring heights. Everything went right with the direction of the movie, there were no shaky spots and the story flowed very well, and some of the cinematography was absolutely breathtaking. (1) Story- I really enjoyed this story. A peasant child falls in love with a well to do young lady, but of course their love is forbidden and they lose touch. Years later that peasant becomes a great magician that catches the eye of a Prince, and it just so happens the prince's girlfriend is the young lady of the magicians past. While I am not going to spoil anything, the way this movie was written was amazing, and the ending is the one the audience prays for, and it delivers very nicely. (1) Expectations- I really didn't know what to expect with this movie. I admit I had sort of high standards just because its Edward Norton, but granted, I wasn't really expecting this movie to be grand. I was completely wrong, this movie was wonderful, and was a real joy to watch. (1) Boring?- Why is it that this is the category that most movies always fail on? This film only had a running time of 110 minutes, with such a short running time with a story of this caliber it is kind of depressing, there was so much more this film could have done, and there was a few parts that they really could have cut out. Granted this movie is by no means "boring" under the normal definition of boring, but there was so much more that they could have done, personally I would have liked to see them cut a few slow spots and maybe add 20 more minutes of the illusions and a little more back story. (1/2) Final Score: 4 1/2 out of 5 Final Thoughts: This was one of the best movies I saw in 2006. I went to see this with a group of friends and for once we ALL agreed that this film was amazing. Of course I am a little bias being a huge fan of Edward Norton movies. If you have yet to see it, I suggest you rent it first, because I know that it may not be for everyone, but I can promise it will be for most, and if you do like it a lot, this is definitely a movie to add to your collection at home, because it is just as good the twentieth time as it was the first.
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