MovieChat Forums > The Illusionist (2006) Discussion > Deus Ex Machina....Norton turns out to b...

Deus Ex Machina....Norton turns out to be God. 2/10 rating.

posted 11 years ago by Obi_Bon_Kenjovi
8 replies | jump to latest

It gets one point for the smoking hot Duchess. Other than that, the whole movie is based around the ending. After 30 minutes, we're all wondering how he's gonna outsmart the bad guys. We know he's gonna use illusions and slight of hand. Then, when Inspector Bug-eyes starts to 'figure it out' it shows him flash back to the gemstone, the fake blood, and the magic potion....OH NOW I GET IT! Wait, no I don't. It never explained *beep* What about the ghostly apparitions floating around or the little ghost kid walking around the theatre. This movie is solely based around a 'hooplah' ending that never explained diddly *beep* The headline of the movie should read: "Norton uses magic...literally!'

...of all the arts, for us the cinema is the most important. - Vladimir Lenin

[–] jleslie48 11 years ago

"OH NOW I GET IT! Wait, no I don't." too bad for you. guess you should stick with simple movies. maybe they will put out a barney the purple dinosaur movie for you so you won't get all frustrated.

In the meantime, it was all magic tricks and its just too bad the magician only explained some of the tricks and not all of them for you.

[–] Owlnut73 9 years ago

A good magician never reveals his secrets, a bad one doesn't have too.

[–] savcam500 8 years ago

But, as was the case with The Prestige, it would've been nice to find out how these illusions were pulled off. The Prestige has rewatchability, even after knowing how it was all done, this movie does not; this speaks volumes to the film's actual story and how uninteresting it truly is. Take away the "magic" and what do you have? A bland period piece with terrible accents, the only saving grace is the stunning Jessica Biel....

something terribly clever.

[–] hilaryjrp 8 years ago

You're mistaken. This film is a fictionalized story of Ludwig of Bavaria, a dissolute aristocrat and one of the Bavarian noblemen who played a significant role in World War I. Rufus Sewell's climactic speech about "rabble" (or some word like that) suggests the mindset that would dominate the region by the time of Hitler.

The film's hero, Edward Abramowitz, IS clearly meant to represent religious people who somehow managed to survive through the Hell that the twentieth century in Austria would bring.

[–] R_Kane (15828) 6 years ago

No, it wouldn’t have been “nice,” savcam dolt. It would have broken the illusion.

This movie is a fable, an uplifting lesson. It’s not a drama, and it’s not a fantasy.

[–] Aurelian (3) 7 years ago

[deleted]

[–] ExTechOp (2770) 5 years ago

All the tricks shown in the movie were based on actual illusions

The orange tree, in real life presented by Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin, has been duplicated:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AR8GVHi3RA

Looks pretty darn good!

As for the spirits walking among the audience members, there's no technology to accomplish that now, much less then, BUT what you saw in the film is exactly what audiences of the era swore up and down they witnessed first-hand.

Most likely, they saw things like projections onto smoke, and their imaginations filled in the blanks.

Any magician who's been performing for a while experiences this, i.e., audiences recalling illusions as much more impressive than they actually were.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Any magician who's been performing for a while experiences this - audience members relate describing illusions as much more impressive than they actually were.

This is so true. A great example was in David Blaine's first street magic special back in the 90s. A few girls swore he levitated a good foot and a half. In actuality the illusion he performed for them would only have allowed him to levitate a couple inches at most.

As for the illusions in this movie, while they were based on actual illusions (orange tree, light/heavy chest, Pepper's ghost) the way they were presented in the movie would've clearly been impossible in real life. Once I saw the CGI oranges blooming on the growing tree I realized this and just kind of went with it and enjoyed the movie.