Regular visitor of the site Ray recently saw the limited released flick The Illusionist which has made a considerable amount of money in the U.S. and has garned quite a bit of critical acclaim.

The movie stars Edward Norton as the magician Eisenheim who uses his abilities to secure the love of Sophie (Jessica Biel) and also stars the oscar winning Paul Giamatti.

Ray’s take wasn’t as positive as many of the critics. Here are some key excerpts from the review…

“The direction by Burger hovers around adequate, with some framed tracking shots specifically repeated without any hint of reason. While several of the sequences highlighting Eisenheim’s magic act achieve a sort of breathlessness, the overuse of CGI in these sequences calls attention to their phoniness….

…As for the performances, Giamatti, as the disillusioned police inspector, gives the film its only truly memorable character….

…the film becomes a long string of cliches, wrapping around a central mystery that will surprise nobody except M. Night Shyamalan…

…The ending, obvious from the halfway point in the film, hinges upon contrivances shown a million times in better movies, except with even more implausiblities”

To read the full review click here to go to Ray’s blog.

For those of us in the UK, I haven’t been able to find a release date for the flick, does anyone know? Surely it can’t be straight to DVD?

source - ray’s blog