The Illusionist
The most interesting thing about Neil Burger's second feature film, The Illusionist, isn't the story (predictable), performances (effective, even Jessica Biel) or the lead character's nifty magic tricks. It's the way Burger goes to great pains to make the film look like one you might have seen in a nickelodeon at the turn of the 20th century, which is when the story takes place. The colors are muted, the mise en scène is murky and the whole setup seems to have something to hide. That's fitting since the film's protagonist is a magician who uses slight-of-hand to rescue his long-lost love from an impending disastrous marriage to the crown prince of Austria. It's a shame then that all of Burger's hard work to create this vague and mysterious setting is ruined by a clichéd Hollywood ending of slow-motion flashbacks, which reveal a "surprise" twist everyone had already figured out 45 minutes earlier. It's a truly spectacular crash-and-burn. On the plus side, it alleviates any need for me to write about the first 90 percent of the movie.