David Copperfield has nothing on these other-worldly tricks
Based on a short story by Stephen Millhauser, The Illusionist is a period mystery/romance set in turn-of-the-century Austria. Edward Norton (The Painted Veil, American History X) stars as Eisenheim, a magician of sorts who causes quite the stir when he starts doing his remarkably believable act in Vienna.
When power-hungry Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell) volunteers his soon-to-be fiancée, Duchess Sophie von Teschen (Jessica Biel), to take part in Eisenheim's act, she and Eisenheim quickly recognize each other as long-lost childhood friends and a secret romance takes hold. Leopold finds his power threatened as the public--and Sophie--are increasingly drawn to Eisenheim's mystical powers. But could his illusions be real?
The Illusionist is a well-acted, aesthetically lovely movie. The look of Vienna circa Freud is achived perfectly down to the wire-rimmed glasses and goatees, and the tone is suitably seriously and mysterious. Edward Norton makes a compelling Eisenheim, the remarkably gifted illusionist who has the misfortune of being in love with someone out of his league in a very rigid society. Rufus Sewell (The Holiday, A Knight's Tale) is quite the scary 19th century version of the alcoholic, abusive, spoiled aristocrat. Paul Giamatti (Sideways, American Splendor) transcends his perpetual underdog image as the Javert-y Chief Inspector Uhl who has the unpopular but burning desire to get to truth. And Jessica Biel (Seventh Heaven, Elizabethtown), with her unthreatening beauty, manages to hold her own amongst her impressive co-stars.
There has been much ado made of the accents, and all of it is deserved. I wasn't sure if they were supposed to sound like they were English, Austrian, Austrians speaking English, or Martian. But the bad accents were pretty universal, so at least there's that.
The bit of heavy-handed exposition in the beginning and a cheesy love scene are offset by a cool ending, as well as Eisenheim's tight-lipped approach to his illusions. They are every bit as amazing and engrossing to the viewer as they would be to a real audience, and draw you into the story. I'm not sure Edward Norton's dream of having you sitting around and discussing the nature of reality is achieved by the end of the movie, but it's still a nice ride while it lasts.
ReelzChannel Rating: 
What’s on the Disc:
The Illusionist performs a disappearing act on the thorough menu of extras so many movies have these days.
On the disc, you will only find some trailers, audio commentary by writer/director Neil Burger (Interview with the Assassin), and two featurettes--"The Making of The Illusionist" and "Jessica Biel on The Illusionist"--which recycle some of the same material. It's too bad, because they wasted an opportunity for some cool extras--like the secrets behind magic tricks, perhaps, or even the movie magic behind the illusions in this piece. Just a suggestion.