Harry Houdini (Guy Pearce) is already a legend with his death-defying acts and amazing tricks, even though the way he pushes himself drives his manager/friend Sugarman (Timothy Spall) crazy with the risks and challenges he takes.
Mary (Catherine Zeta Jones) is a Scottish woman who earns her living with her looks, ability to deceive and her assistant/daughterBenji (Saoirse Ronan.)
So when Mary hears that the great Houdini, who gets a kick of exposing scamming mediums, is challenging all mediums to tell him what his mother told him on her deathbed, she jumps at the opportunity to win against Houdini, and win $10,000 as well.
When the two meet, they manage to impress the other with their charm, unique outlook on life and passion. Her daughter also seems quite taken with Houdini, although Mary seems quite certain that Houdini might be more cunning than naive and might be playing her.
But no matter who’s playing who, things get very complicated when the attraction between them get stronger by the minute…
*
Death Defying Acts is a weird little drama/romance with no exciting scenes, apart from the couple of stunts Houdini pulls. Guy Pearce makes a perfect Houdini, but then that’s not exactly surprising since he easily becomes any character he plays. And Zeta Jones is gorgeous as always, but two good-looking, good actors don’t count for much when there isn’t much of an interesting story, the movie is PG and it takes ages to get to the romance.
The movie suffers a lot from its slow pace, and it never quite picks up. It’s not unwatchable, but I enjoyed the interviews, featuring comments about Guy Pearce impressed everyone by how he ended up more skilled than the stuntmen while he was doing Houdini’s stuff.
5/10.
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The King’s Speech starring Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter & Guy Pearce
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