Death Defying Acts (2008) Movie Review

The legendary story of the master magician Harry Houdini comes together with the fictional story of love and deceit to create the Gillian Armstrong film entitled “Death Defying Acts.” While Houdini is searching the world for a connection to his past, the con artist psychic Mary McGravie is searching for fortune in Edinburgh with her daughter and sidekick Benji. When Harry and Mary meet, they begin to discover much more than either of them had bargained for.

Armstrong shines a light on the excitement and utter popularity of Harry Houdini (Guy Pearce) back in the early 20th century. His career was at its peak and the world would hold its breath every time he plunged chain-laden into the water tank that donned his nightly stage. Those who were lucky enough to see his show in person were truly taken aback by how incredible his stunts were. And those who had yet to experience him in person could only read dreamily about him in newspapers and magazines.

Pearce was able to bring an incredibly charming and likeable poise to the role. Quite reversely, he was also able to quickly give the audience a glimpse into the troubled and dark side of the superstar’s life; a man with a temper and tragic loss.

Though entirely fictional, the character Benji (Saoirse Ronan) helps personalize the extensive popularity that Houdini had in Europe during his World Tour in the 1920s. He was like a movie star to adoring fans. Magic acts packed full houses because deep down in every audience members’ heart was a yearning for the trickery to be real; perhaps some hopeful insight into the supernatural and the spiritual.

Writers Tony Grisoni and Brian Ward paint a picture in which Harry Houdini meets his match of trickery when Benji introduces him to her mother, Mary (Catherine Zeta-Jones), or Princess Kali, as she is known in her staged psychic show.

Houdini’s struggles with the loss of his mother lead him to creating an impossible challenge for the world. His attempts to find the one who will be able to channel her energy from the afterlife for a handsome reward reveal his own vulnerable past. In anger, he begins to expose all of the fakes who are just after his money. He is pestered by everyone from ventriloquists to tap dancers, all who want to get their hands on his money. When Mary and Benji hear of the cash reward, they start working out a scheme to get the money for themselves.

The idea of two masters of trickery trying to out-trick one another creates a very interesting dilemma; one that has the possibilities of turning into a much more risky situation – love. Mary’s harsh realism gives her the ability to be deceivingly sweet and naïve enabling her find out about Houdini and his mother. But what she finds just takes her further away from her original purpose.

Though the dare-devil Houdini could slip out of any tangible knots or chains, he never even realized the ropes of love slowly encircling his own heart as he grew closer to Mary. The idea of falling for someone, of letting himself be so vulnerable to another human being is what terrified him more than any slow or painful death. Death he had been defying for years, but love? That was a much more difficult feat.

Though Mary had been told the secret of Harry’s mother by his manager, Mr. Sugarman, Mary could not deceive Harry any longer. When the day of the so-called séance arrived, Mary quickly backed down from the leering eyes of the press and renounced her psychic abilities. Love had become more important to her than money.

In a strange twist of events, Benji mysteriously drops to the floor where she writhes around and seemingly channels the words of Houdini’s mother. His belief in her performance seals his guilt about his mother and his concern about continuing to love anyone else.

Harry comes to see Mary the next day, where the two finally confess their love for one another. Through all the fake trickery, they had both managed to find something real.

And even in his tragic and untimely death – a punch to the stomach which burst his appendix, there was more to be said for his life than just the many shows he put on. The importance of Houdini existed more in the love he felt for both his mother and for Mary. The magic may have been false, but the man was real.

There is much to be said for the art form of a historical fiction film. When a film is extended beyond fact and sent out encrusted with fictional elements that bring out a completely different story, the writers and directors have created something extraordinarily unique.

Armstrong, Grisoni, and Ward brought a famous name to the most basic of human levels. Though few know the true stories and many controversies of Harry Houdini’s real life, “Death Defying Acts” pays respectable tribute to a man whose name will forever be synonymous with magic. Spectacular performances from all four leading roles and an intensely real chemistry between Zeta-Jones and Pearce light up the screen and lull the audience into the romance, the betrayal, and the magic of the film.