For the same magic theme, you can't help but compare "The Illusionist" with another superb movie of the same period, "The Prestige". Throughout the whole film, if the suspense of "The Presitige" is wandering between the weird power of science and traditional tricks, then the illusion of "Illusionist" is drifting between mystery and magic. Eisenheim has been a legend from the beginning. The disappeared magician and the big tree, like an apostle from another world, gave him supernatural powers. His performances, one after another, have surpassed the dazzling traditionally said, and are more like solo dances of countless ethereal souls, breathtaking and indescribably beautiful. Uhl’s first evaluation was extremely simple and unpretentious. Eisenheim’s performance was Art, art, and beauty.
The film has been setting up such a kind of beauty to advance, leading the audience step by step into the mysterious wasteland. Every minute of the plot extension makes people have to believe in Eisenheim's own supernatural power, and this supernatural power is at the end. The phantom performance reached its extreme. At this time, no one would "realistically" consider the possibility of this kind of performance. For the audience, the genre of this film is clearly qualitative at this time-mystery is no different.
However, at the end of the film, there was another joke, which instantly pierced the blank sheet of paper that carried the entire phantom, making the audience completely admired by Eisenheim's supreme magic skills, and was completely conquered by the twists and turns of the story and the ingenuity of the design. This kind of mercury rushing impact is exactly the same as the shock brought by the final opening of "The Prestige", but...
but it is a sword of the same way, and when it is unsheathed, it will die.
It's too late, too much. The movie has come to an end at this time, and the mysterious impression has been deeply imprinted in the audience's mind. At this time, it is too late to switch from the mystery back to reality. The film can prevent the audience from asking questions with Uhl's smile in just a few tens of seconds, but it cannot prevent the audience from re-examining the feasibility of the previous series of magical skills after the film. The fact is, while lamenting this wonderful ending, people have to wonder: Are the previous magical illusions too far beyond the age?
With the same type of ending, "The Prestige" is perfect. At the junction of the post-industrialization and electronic ages, the mystery symbolized by electricity can be matched with science fiction. At the same time, the unveiling of the suspense returns to the reality behind the magic, and most importantly, it is not only in the lines and language. In terms of design, but also in terms of plot, it echoes from the beginning to the end and runs through. In this way, the floating range of the whole film's tone is between complete reality and extremely hard science fiction, and there is no crossover to test the thinking logic of the audience. In a word, this story is not outrageous.
If "Illusionist" is a tragic ending, it may not give the audience a huge surprise at the end, and it is difficult to have the kind of surging that can be uncovered by the mystery, but it can guarantee a complete tone of the story. However, this kind of ending and deciphering, although brilliant, completely subverted all the previous atmosphere, and left countless feelings of discomfort on the plot. An extreme analogy, the story of "Lord of the Rings" sees the end, and it turns out that everything happens in the "Matrix", and I guess I will be crazy.
So in the end, "Illusionist" can only hold on to its own title, and use all of its energy to take care of its own title-originally it was an illusionist, naturally everything is an illusion, so don’t ask about other things; of course, as for Why is it so much worse than "The Prestige", I probably don't need to ask...
View more about The Illusionist reviews
