The Great Magician

Tony Leung Chiu Wai (Hero, Infernal Affairs, Lust Caution, 2046) and Xun Zhou, one of the best actresses in film, head this tale of intrigue and deception.

In a China destabilized and in social and political confusion, a mysterious magician returns home from Europe. In the background a political intrigue aimed at restoring the Qing Dynasty deposed by the Revolution of 1911. Amid this, a quest to reclaim a stolen love.

Magic, vaudeville, and politics mix in this romance, and one is not sure is it is all a bit confusing.

But it all makes sense in the end, or does it?

Many people I know don't watch "foreign language" movies because they don't like subtitles (they forget that THEY'RE the foreigners to the people who made the movie). I think that's a great pity because they miss out on some gems and this is one of them. It's entertaining from start to finish, well acted and directed and raised some real belly-laughs from yours truly (and believe me, that's a hard thing to do - I'm a smiler, not a laugher!) Don't miss out on this one folks, it's pure entertainment at it's best.

Part historical drama, part love story, and a LARGE part tongue in cheek social satire, this movie was a sheer delight from beginning to end.

To all that, add the fact that the magic presented is by and large correct and true to the art (unlike the totally incorrect mess that was The Prestige) and this is a movie for a magician to love.

But even without a background in magic, the clever twistyness of the plot, the humor of the dialog and the amazing acrobatics will carry almost anyone with some child in their heart through to the end with a smile on their face.

Truly a gem of a kind Hollywood hasn't made for a long time.

This is a fun movie if one doesn't take it to seriously. Best not to go in expecting an Asian version of The Prestige or similar movies. This is basically a subtle comedy with some good characters, good acting, and good directing. The script is a bit confusing at times as one tries to figure out exactly what is going on, but for the most part everything holds together.

I wouldn't call this a great movie or even a "good" movie, but it was fun enough to hold attention for a couple of hours. I came close to giving this 7 stars, but there simply wasn't much that stood out here to make this special. Six stars is my "better than most" rating, which is about where this sits. The actors and the characters they play are the best part, so kudos to them. All in all it's worth the watch.

Period plece. 1920s china. A local warlord is trying to impress his newest wife. She is not impressed by his position. So he resorts to magic to impress her. But who is trying to impress who? And who is in the position of power? A modern take on a very ancient battle in china. The regional warlords actually won out when there wasn't a unified china, so they are hoping to stay independent as long as possible. First complaint: white captions on white background....?? Really, netflix?? We've been doing caption for forty years now. Haven't we learned anything?? I missed so much of this, just due to bad captions! And some of this was just trick photography. I would have been more impressed if they had stuck to magician's trickery. The general wants to impress the new wife with magic, but she's a tough audience. Stars the awesome tony teung chiu wai. See him in something else... he's done so many better projects! Directed by tung shing yee.