Review of The Illusionist (2006) by Alex R — 12 Jun 2011

Though Christopher Nolan's The Prestige was the big film dealing with magic in 2006, its competitor The Illusionist released the same year, is a well crafted film in the same style, but very different.

Edward Norton yet again delivers an electrifying performance as illusionist Eisenheim. The Illusionist is a strong film with top notch performances aside from Norton. A surprisingly good performance is that of Jessica Biel as Duchess Sophie Von Teschen.

She delivers the best performance of her career. The Illusionist is a strong film with a story full of twists and turns. The plot is surprising and its never what you really expect. Its really hard to compare The Illusionist with The Prestige because they're two totally different films.

But The Illusionist is a totally different story than The Prestige despite the fact that it uses magic as a plot device. The story here is incredible, beautiful, mysterious and suspenseful. People have said this is predictable, but I beg to defer.

I thought the story had plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing till the very end. The Illusionist is a very entertaining film with a strong cast and despite the fact its a lesser film than The Prestige, this is still a worthy film to watch and enjoy.

The Illusionist is one of Edward Norton's best films and also the fact that it shows Jessica Biel giving a great performance gives her a lot more credibility as an actress. A must see film that brings on great amounts of thrills and mystery.