IMDb user comments for
Death Defying Acts (2007)

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14 out of 24 people found the following comment useful :-
A barely contained piece of spiritualist propaganda, 14 septiembre 2007

Author: rainmonkey

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I just watched this film at its premier at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival. While I enjoyed the acting abilities of Catherine Zeta Jones, Guy Pierce and especially the young Saoirse Ronan, the script was such an affront to the true Houdini that I almost gagged. In fact, I spoke up and asked a very uncomfortable question to Gillian Armstrong during the question and answer period. "How do you answer to the legacy of who Harry Houdini really was - a skeptic who spent his life energy successfully debunking anyone offering supernatural claims... inspiring such people as the great James Randi, who, like Harry, offered large sums of money to anyone who could prove, under scientific conditions, the existence of supernatural phenomena. To this date, the money has not been claimed... Harry championed the rational, scientific approach to studying phenomena. How do you justify the blatant spirituality shown in your movie?" The answer was vague. Ms. Armstrong pointed out that if Harry was such a skeptic, why was he so obsessed with the afterlife. Moreover, at the end of the film, there is a title card that describes the séances that have tried to contact Harry after his death, all with no success. Okay. Right. People are going to remember a few lines of text and NOT the angels swimming through the water, the visions of Harry's dead mother as he hung upside down in the Chinese Water Torture tank... the lights going out as little Benji writhed on the floor speaking perfect, fluent German, the "psychic connection" Mary had to Harry the moment he died (incidentally, Harry died at Detroit's Grace Hospital of peritonitis from a ruptured appendix at 1:26 p.m. on October 31 - Halloween - in Room 401, 1926, at the age of 52! Does Guy Pierce look 52 to you?). Ms. Armstong even did an informal poll of the audience - she asked "How many people here think that Benji was really channeling Harry's mother?" To which about half the audience raised their hands. Yikes. Do these people also believe in the tooth fairy? Yes, this is a Hollywood fantasy. However, it treats Harry as an unfaithful, vision-seeing pseudo psychic. It is an affront to everything Harry stood for. As a piece of fiction, it is enjoyable. If you can stomach its historical desecrations, you will enjoy wonderful acting and great cinematography. If you know anything about who Houdini was or value what he stood for, you will be frustrated by this blatant attempt to make our world even more demon-haunted than it already is.

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29 out of 56 people found the following comment useful :-
The Most beautiful motion picture of the year, 16 octubre 2007

Author: giuspatern de Italy

When i went to the screening of this movie,i wasn't so excited. You know, last year there have been severals magicians movies just like "The Prestige", Neil Burger's "The Illusionist, "Next". But i noticed myself that "Death Defying Acts" is not just a simple "magic" movie. It's something "bigger", you know..the story is captivating, fairly, helped by a ligated editing work. I can't spoil you most of the story, but i'm advising you to go and see this when it's gonna be released on screen. Gillian Armstrong gives a touch of real magic directing this impressing, fascinating and thrilling movie, being helped by Guy Pearce and Catherine Zeta Jones, that are simply amazing and are "victims" of an unspeakable chemistry that in my opinion should be awarded with an Oscar. 10/10

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2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Houdini learns the meaning of 'Love', 6 abril 2008

Author: Incorrigible de United Kingdom

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

No doubt this film will be considered a 'fine' movie. However I personally believe this to be one of the most arrogant excuses of 'auteurism' I've ever seen. I can easily excuse artistic liberty but this so blatantly demeans and insults any memory of the real Houdini as to be laughable. I can imagine during the making of this piece of tripe that all concerned were in awe of the sheer artistry involved and were already writing their Oscar acceptance pieces. Well, 'good' casting, costumes, cinematography etc. do not a good movie make. There is no 'Atonement' for this worthy piece of rubbish whatever. Being told I need four more lines to get my comment listed, here goes. Don't bother with this film unless. You like pretty costumes and people. You are a friend of either Michael Douglas or Catherine Zeta Jones. A friend of the director. You think the kid deserves an Oscar.

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4 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Death Defying Acts Dies An Inglorious Death., 6 marzo 2008

Author: ach65559 de Australia

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

What a travesty ! Houdini's character and life is already fascinating enough, Why bother to fictionalise to such an extent with unconvincing characters and an unbelievable story ? Wrapping this poorly told and flimsy fabrication in a narration that belonged more in a Disney or Hallmark product than a film by a much - awarded and deservedly acclaimed director didn't help much either. Zeta - Jones and Ronan were unconvincing and severely lacking in chemistry as a mum and daughter. Pearce was excellent but there was a woeful lack of conviction in his relationship with both Zeta Jones and Ronan. Why would Houdini get involved with such an obvious con - artist partnership when he dedicated so much of his life to exposing fake mediums and psychics. The film also did great disservice to Houdini himself by showing that he deceived his audiences as willingly as the shysters he exposed. I saw this film last night at its Brisbane premiere and was frankly staggered by the extravagant compliments paid to it's director and the film itself by both her interviewer and audience members during the question and answer session following the screening. It's good to be polite but a little criticism wouldn't have gone astray, even in the director's presence. One brave soul did hazard to ask why fictionalise to such an extent and Gillian Armstrong replied that her film was more about the eternal truth of love than the great illusionist himself. She also seemed very eager to point out that she wasn't responsible for the script or the storyline. Compared to the 1953 film Houdini starring Tony Curtis, Death Defying Acts showed very little evidence of progress in over 50 years of commercial film making and certainly wasn't worthy of either it's leading man Guy Pearce or director Gillian Armstrong.

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10 out of 19 people found the following comment useful :-
Tasteful direction,vague script, miscasting, and detached point of view make this a leaden experience., 6 abril 2008

Author: BOUF de Australia

Tasteful direction seems to kill any chance of getting a glimpse of what the characters in this film might have really been like. It's like a very detached museum piece created by a well meaning suburban curator, who wants everything to be viewed in the nicest possible light. Houdini was a very tough ex-circus performer..a guy who started in the scummiest dumps and worked his way up..and the Edinburgh music hall scene was an absurdity. I went to music halls in Edinburgh in the 1950s, and you could smell the beer and body odour, hear the place ringing out with cat calls, swearing, smart-aleck remarks..not in this dainty presentation..and this was supposed to be the much cruder 1920s. That daintiness seems to extend to the female con artists, who must be the best dressed, best fed couple of slappers in history..and how has Ms Zeta Jones become so boring? She used to be so full of zest and sass. There's very little zest and sass in this script or in this film.

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1 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
A Nutshell Review: Death Defying Acts, 11 mayo 2008

Author: DICK STEEL de Singapore

What had drawn me to watch Death Defying Acts, is that it's a story with Harry Houdini, arguably the greatest illusionist and escape artist of our time. A few days ago I was browsing through a book which revealed the secrets behind his brand of death defying acts, and really he's a man of science, engineering and most of all, a performer to bring to life the act of fooling an audience into believing his stunts. Sure there's an element of danger, but with proper risk assessment and safeguards, they strip away all the mystique that serves to confound.

But contrary to the title, there's nothing really death defying about the movie, as it treaded on safe ground and doesn't dwell any more on the illusions that it has to. In fact, you can count the number of stunts which involve Harry Houdini, and the filmmakers left that for another biographical movie that someone else should pick up on. What we have instead are glimpses into the man's personal life, and Guy Pearce provided quite an intense and charismatic Houdini with personal demons of his own to do battle with, though the story seemed to rein him in from dwelling too much on that aspect, and preferred to have a more romantic tale weaved in.

The romanticism of the movie is not with his illusions, but with a single parent who's a psychic of sorts, relying on her street smarts to get her own act going. Catherine Zeta-Jones plays Mary McGarvie, who has to rely on her wits to build credibility for her stage character. Together with daughter and sidekick Benji (played by Saoirse Ronan of Atonement fame), the mother and daughter team tries hard to make a living from their acts, but realize that they're by no means close to Houdini's widespread fame and fortune.

However, Houdini himself throws a gauntlet to all psychics far and wide, that whosoever can accurately reveal what his late mother had last said to him, will inherit US$10,000. His purpose it seems is to reveal that the majority of these soothsayers are tricksters in disguise, until of course he meets the luminous Mary, and affairs of the heart throws him off course. Naturally, Mary and Benji find themselves up against the best in the business, but when your back is against the wall, there's nothing much to lose it seems.

As mentioned earlier, this movie's more of a character study of the master magician, and explores things like his guilt because of dedication to his craft and performance, as well as his questionable motives in being attracted to the fictional Mary McGarvie. Narrated by the character of Benji, we see things through a child's eyes, and perhaps therein lies the loss of some pathos in the romantic angle of it. On one hand, it isn't your classic romantic story, while on the other, it doesn't seem to want to preach the method, rationale and mindset of Houdini himself.

So what emerged is a mixed bag. Beautifully shot, but again falling on the emptiness of its effort in trying to allow the audience to feel for the characters. At least Timothy Spall, who plays Mr Sugarman, Houdini's manager, allowed for some light moments as the guarded and wary person that he is. And credit goes to keeping the ending quite right too.

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6 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
Nice but nothing amazing, 16 marzo 2008

Author: Matt de Newcastle, Australia

I went to see this movie yesterday - 17th march 2008 (must've been an advanced screening...?) based on the high rating on rotten tomatoes (80). Needless to say, after watching it, I think a 50 would fit the bill more accurately. I'm keeping my review simple, so here are some pros and cons:

Pros Good visuals Guy Pearce is likable and chemistry with CZJ seems to work OK, though is somewhat shallow in some regards Character development is good Unpredictable plot Some light-heated, amusing moments

Cons Plot meanders, and also takes a while to get to certain key moments - probably done in order to develop characters more but a little too slow for my liking Some strange imagery confuses the viewer

In summary, I probably would only go to see this at the movies for the great visuals of old towns and so forth (certainly not the story, plot, effects, etc). Otherwise, wait for it to come out on DVD (and just watch it on the 42" plasma!) if you want an interesting non-Hollywood-ised story with a bit of love and mystery.

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