What are the odd of two period pieces that have as main characters magicians opening in the same year? Pretty slim I guess, although probably bigger than the odds of two Capote movies being produced at the same time.

The funny thing is that The Illusionist and The Prestige, the aforementioned magician period movies, are really quite different when you get past the surface. The Prestige is a drama about two magicians who become fierce competitors, and all the trouble that ensues from that. The Illusionist is a much more straightforward suspense that centers on a love triangle.

The two movies also take very different approaches to the art of magic. The Prestige takes magic very seriously, and the sacrifices one must make to be good at it are very much central to the story. Meanwhile, the magic in The Illusionist is mostly a gimmick to move the story forward and to add coloring to the character. After I watched The Prestige I felt like I understood a little bit better what goes into the creation of magic tricks and what the life of a professional magic is like. The Illusionist told me nothing about magic as it might possibly be practiced in the real world.

There is one other big difference. The Prestige is a very good movie. The Illusionist, meanwhile, kind of sucks.

The main problem with The Illusionist is that it is very predictable. If you have seen the trailer or know the basics of the story, you can pretty much guess the general outline of the movie and the surprise ending in the first few minutes. And most of the minor twists that happen during the film can be see from a mile away.

Not only that, but the movie keeps making very transparent attempts to throw the viewers off the scent. And I mean very transparent. Like, do-you-actually-think-that-is-going-to-fool-me transparent. And after a while it gets boring. And a little insulting even.

There are other problems. Norton’s performance is less than ideal. The romantic portion of the story is rushed and not very believable. The direction isn’t inspired, and so on. But these are minor problems. The utter predictability and lack of originality of the script is the one thing that really sinks the movie.

So, really. Go see The Prestige instead. It’s more entertaining and you might even learn something. And if you have seen The Prestige, well, it’s probably still more surprising the second time than The Illusionist is the first.