I did the most random thing at 6.40PM on a Wednesday evening.

It was the first time I got to go off work early – I ended up watching a “delightful Chinese New Year movie” or so the tagline describes Derek Yee’s latest offering “The Great Magician”

"Look ma, who says I can't play with fire?"

Yes, I do admit I am a fan of Tony Leung and Lau Ching Wan. They have a track record of making pretty decent movies. Movies that talk about humanity and that has a deeper message behind the usual storyline.

Movies that deal with magic is usually a hit and miss – if done well – it challenges the way we look at what is real and what isn’t. The US counterparts have been quite successful with The Illusionist and The Prestige.

Fortunately, The Great Magician manages to deliver the essence of awe and wonder in magic. It even had a few scenes (or rather lines) that was profound – questioning what is real or fake and searching for the Truth. It starts off great with a good premise, good cast, great special effects and a promising storyline – only to trail off to something else midway.

The story follows a crazed warloard Bully (Lau Ching Wan) who is seen conspiring with the Japanese to expand his territory just to win the affection of his seventh wife ( Zhou Xun). Along comes a mysterious stranger Chang Hsien (Tony Leung) who just returned from overseas with more than just his bag of tricks. A hidden agenda, conspiracy and a love story all rolled into one – good premise right?

Unfortunately, it seems to outrightly “borrow” steal plot elements from The Illusionist and The Priestige – two great movies on magic. Heck, even the poster seems to be an Asian knock off from The Illusionist!

It steals the plot of being a “love story” from The Illusionist and the plot of vengence from The Pristige.

But towards the middle – the lines of what is real (or serious) and what is fun (comedy) starts to blur out. It seems that the writers have finally given up on the originally intended storyline and decided to follow the safe, tried and tested slapstick comedy route.

Besides the 101 plot holes that one can uncover even while half concentrating – I feel the movie did deliver on what it set out to do in the first place – to entertain and maybe throw some mystical gems of wisdom.

I would give it a 3 star rating for just entertainment value. Whether or not its worth to spend RM8 for a ticket? Well, if you are looking for a movie to shut your mind off for 1 hour 50 minutes and can tolerate ridiculous and zany plots – sure go ahead and watch it.