The Illusionist is Edward (Edward Norton), who as a young boy, the lowly son of a carpenter, became intrigued with magic after a chance meeting with a magician and began training himself. Soon, his tricks caught the eye of the lovely Duchess Sophie and the pair became fast friends and soon thereafter, fell in love. Because of their different stations in life, Sophie's parents forbade her to associate with him, but the two still found ways to be together. When Sophie determines to run away with Edward and begs him to "make them disappear," her parents separate them permanently and Edward runs away, leaving the town of Vienna to seek his fortune elsewhere.
Fast-forward some 10 years and Edward is now the famous illusionist Eisenheim. His fantastical show intrigues the townspeople, but he especially charms Duchess Sophie (Jessica Biel), who is now the arm candy of the Crowned Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell), and she realizes Eisenheim is her childhood love. The pair find time to sneak off and see each other, but not without being seen by the watchful eye of Police Inspector Uhl (Paul Giamatti) and his men. Inspector Uhl, being the right-hand man of Prince Leopold, determines to find out what is up, even as Leopold plots to marry Sophie and overthrow his father's reign as king. Eisenheim the interloper could throw a kink in the works. When Sophie is murdered and Leopold is suspected of the crime, Eisenheim will do everything in his power to see the man brought to justice, even going so far as to bring ghosts back from the dead during his show to raise suspicion. Eisenheim claims he brings Sophie back on stage so they can be together. Is he telling the truth?
The Illusionist is filled with romance and intrigue, danger and deception, and the entire film is excellent. While I have never been a huge fan of Jessica Biel, she does a great job as Sophie and is very believable. Edward Norton is wonderfully dark as the mysterious illusionist Eisenheim, and Rufus Sewell just drips malevolence as the selfish and violent Prince Leopold. However, the standout performance has got to be Paul Giamatti as Inspector Uhl. He is superb and steals every scene he is in. He is such an unassuming actor and yet he owns the roles he plays completely and this is no exception.
Special features are really slim and include commentary by Writer/Director Neil Burger and two featurettes: a making-of The Illusionist and Jessica Biel on The Illusionist. Both are very short and Jessica Biel's piece is included in its entirety within the making-of, just edited differently. These are the same special features found on the previously released DVD version, so it's hard to recommend a repurchase if you already own the film on DVD. However, the transfer to Blu-ray does look really good. The only place where the film looked fake and the CG was obvious because of the high def was in the early scene where a young Edward meets the magician who changed his life. The DVD version, also included with the Blu-ray, looks fine but on the Blu-ray version, it is very obvious that these parts utilized CG. That being said, the rest of the film looks crisp and fantastic and the surround sound really works to wrap you in the happenings of the film.
If you don't already own this movie, I highly recommend the Blu-ray over the DVD, since all but about 30 seconds of the film looks superior to the DVD and really shine. But if you already own the DVD version, I can't really recommend an upgrade since there aren't even any additional special features. Still, The Illusionist is a terrific movie and whether you are renting or purchasing, go for the Blu-ray.
