I tend to categorize The Illusionist as a drama, rather than a love story. The story revolves around two young lovers that are torn away from each other when they were teenagers (rich family versus poor family). The boy, named Eisenheim, turns into an illusionist. He entertains people through illusions and magic tricks. The girl, named Sophie, turns into a Dutchess and is engaged to the Crown Prince Leopold. In an uncanny meeting when they’re older, they soon find themselves torn between what they must do and what they want.
It’s an excellent film and one that I believe will be remembered for some time. The four main actors truly buy into their roles. Edward Norton’s Eisenheim is a man driven by his desires and even more so when it comes Sophie. Norton shows so much pain and conflict, but shapes Eisenheim into a bit of a pacifist that prefers to outsmart than to fight. He creates a highly intelligent character that we trust will come out on top regardless of the obstacles.
Jessica Biel, someone I think has been terribly miscast in most roles she’s obtained (see Blade:Trinity for details), brings a very caring role that can only described as something close to Juliet in Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet. She is also torn between her duty to her family and her undying love for Eisenheim. This girl needs more dramas!
As for Paul Giamatti and Rufus Sewell, they were great in their supporting roles. Giamatti’s neutral police chief character was possibly one of the more conflicted characters in the film. He too had problems with deciding what was right and what was asked of him (repeating theme?).
Rufus Sewell plays the perfect villain. Loved this guy in Dark City and loved him as the intensely, assholish Prince. He brings the perfect amount of screen evil to the story and doesn’t ask for forgiveness. Why hasn’t this guy become a Sith in Star Wars yet? He plays evil perfectly.
The film truly is great at throwing the audience off from the storyline, but equally perfect at bringing back the audience and explaining everything quickly. It’s one of those films where you’re going to have to see it twice to fully appreciate the craftsmanship that went into telling and making the story.
As for the Blu-ray….
The film was shot in an old, rustic style. The frame of the film is lightly shaded on the edges with dark shading that makes it reinforce the time period it was suppose to be portraying. In HD this looks stunning. The visuals in The Illusionist drive the film like an F1 racer leading the Indy 500; you won’t be able to take your eyes off of it. 20th Century Fox did a superb job on commanding this film from DVD to Blu-ray. It enhanced everything and in return brings the audience closer to the story (not that we weren’t anyway because the film is outrageously good). The audio, while haunting, is also given the same type of love and treatment. It’s remastered in DTS-HD for your speaker pleasure.
Anyway, in short, 20th Century Fox made this Blu-ray transfer worth your time and money.
Now, something I didn’t particularly like is the re-hashed features. You get a couple of good featuretts that were on the original DVD, as well as some commentary from director Neil Burger. You also get a DVD copy of the film, just in case you need it.
You don’t get any HD features, just the film itself. A little disappointing, but if you don’t have the DVD already then you might like it. For reviewing purposes it’s not a great move. I’ve seen DVD to Blu-ray transfers that have HD features added and The Illusionist certainly deserved that treatment a bit.
