'Death Defying Acts' is a better film than 'The Prestige' or ...
...'The Illusionist' in my opinion. I have read a lot of criticism of the film and a good deal of it seems to boil down to people criticising it for what it isn't (an accurate biography of Houdini and his magic) while ignoring what it is...a flawed film that nevertheless has some truly great performances and contains some touching themes.
Here is my review of the film that I recently posted on Amazon:
I bought the blu-ray from Amazon UK and the film is beautiful to look at and the sound score is lovely to listen to.
No Spoilers to speak of:
This film tells a fictional story about Harry Houdini (Guy Pearce) taking his act to Edinburgh (Scotland) and as a side line offering $10,000 to any "psychic" who can tell him the last words his much loved dying mother said to him.
Mary McGarvie (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and her daughter Benji (Saoirse Ronan) are a couple of street wise, out of work swindlers who had been doing a "psychic" stage act until the theatre manager ran off with the funds. Broke again they see Houdini's offer in the paper and decide to take him on. Benji with enthusiastic glee, Mary with flinty determination.
After meeting Houdini and then setting to work Mary and Benji soon discover that they aren't the only ones with a hidden agenda and they find themselves being drawn much closer to Houdini than they had bargained for.
Saoirse Ronan is a knockout as Benji. I have seen six of her films and this is easily my favourite performance from her so far. If you are a Saoirse Ronan fan the movie is worth buying for her alone, and she gets a lot of screen time. I'm not Scottish but her accent sounded pretty authentic to me.
Guy Pearce is also great as Houdini. He gives a large, charismatic performance and although his accent might slip once or twice he is believable, very likeable and sympathetic in the role.
Catherine Zeta-Jones is very good as Mary McGarvie. She isn't as sympathetic a character but then given that she and her daughter make a hand to mouth living as fraudsters it is right that her character would be more reserved and calculating.
Timothy Spall is spot on in a secondary role as Mr Sugarman, Houdini's long suffering manager and minder.
The film is not without some flaws. Among them there is one part of a brief scene between Houdini and Mary that should have been cut. It isn't terrible but rather just pointless. And there is a longer dancing scene between Houdini and Mary that no doubt has symbolic relevance but just seems a little plonked in and clunky.
But overall as I said in the title there is a lot to like in this film and nothing to hate. Oh unless you want a historically accurate biographical film about Houdini or a close examination of his various magic tricks. This film is not about those things, it is a love story and it is a story about a little group of fighters who are doing it tough but still manage to put their hearts out there, still manage to perform their death defying acts.
7/10
"It is life Jim, but not as we know it"