Director: Neil Burger
Starring: Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti, Jessica Biel
Tagline: "Nothing is what it seems"
Random Trivia: Jessica Biel took over from Liv Tyler as the female lead after Tyler dropped out. Ed Norton preformed many of his own magic tricks, with the help of a magic coach. The role of the Crown Prince was loosely based on Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, who murdered his lover before taking his own life at a hunting lodge in 1889, and whose wife was barren due to a rumored infection of venereal disease - given to her by the Crown Prince himself. Royalty - gotta love 'em!
The Illusionist is the second Edward Norton vehicle we're tackling this month, and the better of the two by far. Of course, it's apples and oranges - or well, action and drama - but this is one of those roles that reminds you just why Norton was feted so much as he was coming up.
I had an awesomely incoherent set of notes for this flick that I scribbled down in marker while munching out on meat patties and corn flakes - yup, how's that for a combo - but I seem to have misplaced my pants. Erm, my notes. So we'll see how my murky memory does with this one.
The plot is pretty simple: Forbidden love between Norton's Eisenheim and Biel's Sophie is dashed in their childhood days; she's royalty, he's a commoner. From there, as Paul Giamatti's Inspector Uhl tells us, Eisenheim vanished - but not before bestowing upon Sophie a special locket, and meeting a magician who would help shape his future. Or so we are led to believe. We see nothing of Eisenheim's middle years, only his return to Vienna at the turn of the century, where he begins performing the most masterful illusions the city has ever seen.
And, of course, no one fucking recognizes him.
Eisenheim's astonishing act attracts the attention of Giamatti's Chief Inspector, who informs the Crown Prince of the show. The Prince is an abusive tyrant who happens to enjoy picking apart magic, illusions, and is basically that lame kid in your grade school class with no damn imagination whatsoever who wants to spoil every magic trick he sees. You know that kid - he's the one who would yell out "it's in his pocket" or "there's a fake door" ad nauseam. He, of course, missed the whole point of the show - we know magic's fake, but it's still fucking cool, douchebag.
He also happens to be romantically tied to Sophie, a marriage to whom would, in conjunction with the Prince's plot to overthrow the Emperor, allow him to gain control of Hungary as well.
So we have our pompous if intelligent douchebag who doesn't get it, and our damsel in distress of sorts - or well, a damsel looking at an ugly marriage.
The Chief Inspector, on the other hand, DOES get it. He gets magic, and is a bit of an amateur at it himself. Eisenheim interests the intellectual in him - his illusions are extraordinary, his character gracious and seemingly beyond reproach. He's a guy who rakes in a fortune at the box office from the rich folks of Vienna then drops handfuls of coins into the outstretched hands of hungry street kids.
Giamatti nails this role. He plays the Chief Inspector as a simple man, the son of a butcher, who will never know what royalty is like, and always live on the edges of it, as he tells Eisenheim. What really shines through, however, is the Inspector's child-like glee. He loves to be amazed. Sure, he wants to know how tricks are done - but he still has that sense of wonder, of awe, of being so completely fooled and thrilled by a trick. He doesn't want to pull apart an illusion to prove it's fake, he just wants to know how something that awesome is pulled off. He's the type who would learn the secret behind it all - and never tell a soul.
If the Crown Prince is a skeptic Scully, Giamatti is an eager Mulder - he wants to believe. Eisenheim is so good, so perfect in his illusions that the Inspector is almost ready to believe that he really has power - and there's probably a part of him that would revel in that.
I'm going to stop here and point out that I love how much work this guy is getting now. Giamatti has range, and what he lacks in leading man looks (Norton has that covered) he makes up for with charisma. Shoot 'em Up? Hilarious! I cannot wait to see him in Bubba Nosferatu, no matter how pissed I am that The Chin isn't returning.
Now, back the the movie at hand. Eisenheim's illusions are amazing, and only hurt a little by being obviously CGI in some cases. They definitely kept my fried brain trying to puzzle out how they all came together.
Plotwise, well again, it's simple: Forbidden love. Sophie recognizes Eisenheim, although she doesn't let on. There's a secret meeting. Giamatti's Inspector of course finds out, and he's torn between his awe of Eisenheim and his duty to the Prince. Once the Crown Prince shuts Eisenheim down, after being unable to discredit him, things kick into high gear: The Illusionist wants Sophie to steal away with him, and that sort of shit never pans on in movies like these, does it? And of course that locket turns up again.
Excellent performances all around, a solid script, and enough twists deliver a solid outing, and the final thing I remember is Inspector Uhl applauding Eisenheim's ultimate illusion, elated that "magic" has once again won out, and more than happy to have been fooled.
Some quick final thoughts:
- Never promise a girl that you'll run away with her. It always ends badly.
- Don't give it away all at once girl - this comment brought to you by the pothead sitting next to me when Biel gives Norton a peck on the lips.
- I figured out much of the "Orange Trick" as it unfolded; only the butterflies eluded me.
- The butterflies, however, reminded me of a Stephen King short story, The Death of Jack Hamilton, in which John Dillenger shows his skill at lassoing flies. I must be fucked up.
Overall rating: 3/4 Baked (4 out of 5)
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