Last fall, after seeing the previews for the Illusionist and the Prestige, I wondered, why are there two period dramas about magic coming out at the same time and why is neither based on Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell? Now, I'm not saying that I would have wanted a movie based on Jonathan Strange (it's a much too complicated and long to be adapted into a feature-length film) but it was definitely a bit strange. Anyway, I never got around to seeing either while it was in theaters but I got the Illusionist from Netflix and watched it this weekend. The Prestige is next on my queue and I'll probably review it in a week or two.
The Illusionist stars Edward Norton as the Illusionist in the title, along with Paul Giamatti as a police inspector, Rufus Sewell as the villainous crown prince, and Jessica Biel as Sophie, a duchess and object of the Illusionist's affection. I love Edward Norton, I can't think of any movies that he's been in that I haven't loved, so that was already a plus in favor of this movie, but as some of you might know, I LOATHE Jessica Biel. So it was to my complete surprise that I found her to be completely tolerable in this movie. I think most of my hatred towards her has to do with the way she talks and associations with her beyond-irritating character on Seventh Heaven, so to see her in period dress and hear her with a European accent...she was like a completely different person and I didn't mind her at all.
That said, I really enjoyed this movie. It has an interesting "look" and color, with edges of the screen often blurred into darkness, and everything tinted to seem kind of aged. The music was also superb, and fit the mood of the film extremely well. I wasn't sure where things were going at all in the first half of the movie, but once the mystery section kicked off things improved immensely and it kept me guessing. I did figure out the ending well before the police inspector did though.
Does anyone else feel like Rufus Sewell has played an awful lot of powerful men that the more common "hero" of the movie must defeat in order to get the girl (also see Tristan & Isolde and A Knight's Tale)? He has successfully played the good guy before (most notably for me in Dark City) but it seems that he's now the go-to guy for this kind of role....
1 comment:
Jonathan Strange too complicated and long for a movie? I say too complicated and long for a book! (If I want an overdrawn book with full page footnotes I'll read The Mezzanine and flip 600 fewer pages.) But it looks like no one, save Ms. Clarke, may get their wish on this one: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0468500/
As for The Prestige... I wouldn't cry if it were lost in the mail. Though the film does, thankfully, nix the book's more obtuse and hazy points, it also removes any opportunity to identify with the characters. They stay a little too mysterious for a little too long, lending the feeling that the director decided to highlight his own ingenuity over the author's.
The Illusionist, on the other hand, is fantastic.
Post a Comment