Yesterday, I went to see Fearless, Jet Li’s recent martial arts epic. It was pretty good, but also pretty much exactly what I expected. While there, I saw that the theater had allocated one of its screens to a flick called The Illusionist, a movie I had never heard of or seen previews or promos for. Based on the little title strip with showtimes, it looked interesting, and a few minutes wirelessly checking the reviews on Rotten Tomatos suggested it wasn’t awful.
So I made it a two-movie night and watched.
I was NOT disappointed. In fact, I was blown away. I highly recommend this movie. I won’t spoil any of the plot, but the main characters are a stage magician with peasant roots, the daughter of the local nobility, and the crown prince of the Hungarian (I think) Empire. You can probably see where the plot outline is going, but it doesn’t matter; the whole thing is carried off really, really well, and the interesting part is exactly how.
By way of encouragement, a few things that this movie isn’t:
- It’s not a mindless halloween horror movie;
- It’s not a special effects gee-whiz showpiece;
- It’s not a sappy love story;
- It’s not a sword-and-sorcery epic;
- It’s not a comedy.
I cannot be complementary enough about the acting, the script, the directing… it is a flawless cinematic masterpiece that achieves everything it sets out to do.
