Sharon Reviews The Illusionist

Hey there guys, John here.  Many of you will remember Sharon Dewit as a semi-regular guest on The Audio Edtion.  Well… she is now down living in Los Angeles and will be contributing to the site from time to time.  Here is her quick review of The Illusionist:

The Illusionist is very good at keeping you guessing. Throughout the entire thing I kept wondering, is it going to be cliché? It is not, it is a delight. The Illusionist is a period piece centered around illusionist Eisenheim and his love; the Duchess Sophie, sappy magic love story, right? Not quite, this is far more of a mystery than a love story (and not the M. Night Shymalan mystery type either). With ease and slight of hand director Neil Burger is able to entertain and mystify while still keeping the story moving towards a fantastic ending. This is a well made film with great performances, the best cinematography I’ve seen all year and with Phillip Glass doing the musical scores well it definitely has the right tone.

Edward Norton is very good as the Illusionist Eisenheim, the delicious Jessica Biel exudes a presence on screen that is both intelligent and dead sexy as the Duchess Sophie, poor Rufus Sewell is going to be pissed off at how hard it is to find a date after playing the frightening Crown Prince Leopold so well and If Paul Giamatti isn’t nominated for an Oscar again for his performance as the “not completely” corrupt the Chief of Police I will be very surprised. When the movie ended in the theater I was watching it in the entire audience clapped, this is a good sign my friends.

The only bad thing I can say about this film is a common complaint I’ve had for a lot of films this year and that is (oh boy here I go being a girl again) the makeup. I could see it caked on pool Paul Giamatti’s head like too much foundation on a prom queen’s acne and since this is a period piece I don’t think that Jessica Biel needs to have lip gloss perfectly placed into the center of her beautiful lips for every scene, it’s distracting. Makeup aside from a scale of one to ten I give this film a 9 and as for a no, go or routh, it is a definite routh.

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10 thoughts on “Sharon Reviews The Illusionist

  1. I knew how the movie was going to end during a scene where Uhl is following Eisenhert (I will not give away where). The thing is, despite knowing the ending, the process of getting there was worth it. While we are on the subject of costume and makeup related goofs: what about Leopold’s mustache. That mustache was very irritating kind of like Bello’s fake contacts in “World Trade Center”.

  2. I agree 90% with this review. Everything is correct except for “the great ending” part. The ending was not fun, too easy and cliche as hell. Everything is summed up for you in about 2 minutes with a montage of clips from the rest of the film.

    You can read my review if you want. I also talked about it in my podcast. You don’t mind a shameless plug, right John?

    ~Drewbacca
    MoviePatron.com

  3. I read Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norell last year as well and The Illutionist does have the same grown up magic feel to it. Personally I am hoping that this film opens the door for Johnathan Strange to be made into a movie.

  4. I’m with Sharon 100%. We even gave it the same rating. I loved this movie enough to see it a second time (which is not something I do lightly – especially at $12 a pop). In my opinion, this is underrated and I have this bad feeling that it’ll have a very small engagement unless folks get out there to see it. Too bad, it’s a good one.

  5. I knew it. It had to be time for Ed Norton’s return to form. The trailer is the best I’ve seen in years, builds up intrigue like nothing. The whole movie seems to be like that. Oh goody!

    Nice review too, refreshing to see someone pay attention to detail such as the placement of lip gloss. I’m teasing, but I mean it. :)

  6. Edward Norton has been on a slump for some time now with some minor roles in movies here and there, but nothing really major since Rounders, American History X, and Fight Club.

    Back in the day, he was easily my favorite actor with his performances in American History X and Fight club. Now that the Illusionist has debuted it’s been getting, for the most part, ho hum reviews. This review obviously rates it much higher than the others and that gives me hope that I will actually enjoy the movie.

    Good review. I’ll post more after watching it.

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