This is one of the movies with no hype surrounding around
it, low production and very reliable
actors as compared to another high profile movie of the same genre “The Prestige”,
but this movie is entertaining and has a
good mix of romance, mystery, and magic.
After an attention-grabbing opening scene, the first half of
the movie, through traditional flashback, is a familiar rich-girl-poor-boy
yarn, seen umpteen times in our bollywood movies. After being torn apart for 15
years, the childhood friends (not quite sweethearts then) re-encountered –
Sophie (Jessica Biel) of a noble family now about to be married to a crown
prince (Rufus Sewell) while Edward (Edward Norton) has established himself as
Eisenheim the fast rising magician that captures the fancy of the Vienna audience at the
turn of the century. While considerable screen time has been given to
Eisenheim’s career as a magician, the focus up to this point is on how Sophie
and Eisenheim’s old friendship has been rekindled into romance with the crown
prince being the obstacle.
At the mid-point, however, the tone of the movie take a rather abrupt turn,
giving it a new life, as a dark mystery with also a supernatural flavour.
Eisenheim’s magic becomes the obsessed focus of both the audience and Chief
Inspector Uhl (Paul Giamatti) who tries to unravel its mystery. After some
twists and turns, however, the final revelation brings the audience to a
realisation that this is a rich-girl-poor-boy story after all more seasoned
audience can probably see the ending twist coming. There are also, not
unexpectedly, plot holes, as a water-tight plot is very difficult to come by.
However, none of this stops the movie from being vastly entertaining, with a
satisfactory conclusion.
My main complaint of this movie is the characters, everyone
is one dimensional, The prince is a tyrant, the Inspector is corrupt and power
hungry and the romance between the lead protagonists is forced and doesn’t help the cause. On
the other hand, the plot was engrossing, the pacing and timing moved well, the
cinematography was beautiful with very little CGI for the magic scenes. It’s
become almost blasphemous in the movie world to criticize any performance by
Edward Norton, but this actor, who can play just about any role thrown at him,
does deserve the distinction. His portrayal of Eisenheim is no exception. Giamatti’s
role as the chief inspector does not seem to be terribly demanding at first
glance, but that is the pivoting role and Giamatti fills that role admirably. Jessica
Biel was the surprise and is convincing in her role as a period elegant noble
lady. Pity it got lost with the hype of “The Prestige”..but certainly a great
watch on a lazy Sunday afternoon.