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The Illusionist - Movie Review

 


Something for Free

The Illusionist came out the same year as The Prestige. I naturally thought that a movie directed by Christopher Nolan starring Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Michael Caine, Piper Perabo, and Scarlett Johansson would be the better of these two movies about magic. To my surprise, Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti, and Jessica Biel have a much better story to work off of. However, you cannot buy The Illusionist digitally except on iTunes and YouTube if you like.

However, I did not choose to purchase it on either platform. The reason being you can watch the movie for free on several platforms. I recently became aware of this while working on the review. At the time, I found it on IMDB free with ads. Since I had not tried watching anything on this service, I felt it would be a nice change of pace. I was pleasantly surprised by the service. While writing this review, I find the movie is also offered free on Vudu, Amazon, and YouTube. Who says you cannot get something for free.

Review

The movie is a great blend of mystery and intrigue. The characters are well developed and you come to care for them on their journey. The movie briefly starts in the middle of the story with Paul Giamatti's character telling the beginning of the story. Perhaps the fact this movie has a love story intertwined with the mystery that makes it (in my opinion) a far better movie than The Prestige. Edward Norton was well selected for this role. While not the range we see in Primal Fear that was his breakout roll, he does portray a good tortured character. I highly recommend this movie. It is well worth the commercials to watch.

Rating

I give this a HD rating. I look forward to this movie being on Vudu for purchase. I would pick this up if under $10. I am almost tempted to get it from iTunes but for now will watch it for free. YouTube appears to have the movie free without commercials as I am currently only 20 minutes into watching here.

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