Paul Giamatti and, of course, Edward Norton are the true stars of this romantic suspense film set at the turn of the century in Vienna. It is a romance for Norton and Biel. A mystery for Giamatti. In that way, the film is interesting. It also has some fun special effects and some neat tricks... errr, illusions, as one would expect per the title.
Rufus Sewell and Jessica Biel are quite capable supporting actors in the film but they seem slightly in above their heads against the other two. Plus, Edward Marsan is arguably the best in his supporting role out of this group of actors. Biel's accent comes across as terribly forced but considering what I expected from her, I was overall pleasantly surprised. Sewell was every bit of the character he seemed to be instructed to portray, nothing more, nothing less. Take that as you like.
I found a lot of the film reminiscent in ways to the storyline and tension in Gladiator between Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix. At times, setting that aside, the story was well-written and enjoyable enough. However, much of the scripting and the themes came off as stock. As a film I would want to just sit and watch without looking to turn a critical eye or put into any sort of competition with "great films", it definitely fits the bill. It's fun, interesting, engaging and overall quite entertaining.
4 better-than-Copperfield's out of 5
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment