The Illusionist
Director: Neil Burger
Year Released: 2006
Rating: 1.0
Super magician Eisenheim (Edward Norton, trying hard not to emote) draws the ire of Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell, looking a lot like Vincent Gallo) with his politically subversive magic tricks ... but is still not a potent enough conjurer to turn gal-pal Jessica Biel into a convincing actress. Starts off well enough, but quickly becomes ridiculous, when the magic tricks turn out to be Hollywood CGI trickery, some unsuccessful attempts at audience trickery and a romantic connection between Norton and Biel that falls flat. The picture is also unnecessarily cruel to the Sewell character, whose only real crime is that he's jerk with big ideas of glory and that he picks a fight with Norton's character - otherwise, he's all angry looks.
