Death Defying Acts (2007)

Director:

Gillian Armstrong

Writers:

Tony Grisoni (writer)
Brian Ward (writer)

Release Date:

13 March 2008 (Australia)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

There is no escape.

Plot:

On a tour of Britain in 1926, Harry Houdini enters into a passionate affair with a psychic out to con the famous magician.

Plot Keywords:

Identical Twins | Reward | Film In Film | Stage Magician | Grief

Cast

Catherine Zeta-Jones	...	Mary McGarvie
Guy Pearce	...	Harry Houdini
Timothy Spall	...	Sugarman
Saoirse Ronan	...	Benji McGarvie
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jack Bailey	...	The Red Haired Pilot
Aaron Brown	...	Sugarman's Assistant
MacKay Crawford	...	Young Reporter
James Fiddy	...	American Assistant
Martin Fisher	...	Concierge
Tim Frost	...	Tap Dancer
Campbell Graham	...	Reporter
Emma Humphries	...	The Chambermaid
Miles Jupp	...	Ventriloquist
Silvia Lombardo	...	Usherette
Cloe Mackie	...	Psychic Twin One
Holly Mackie	...	Psychic Twin Two
Frankey Martyn	...	Rose
Aileen O'Gorman	...	Effie - Elderly Seamstress
Dodger Phillips	...	Voice Of The Press
Carol Robb	...	Young Woman
Chris Wilson	...	Reporter

Also Known As:

DeathDefyingActs (Australia) (poster title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for some sensuality, thematic material, language, violent content and smoking.

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

UK | Australia

Language:

English | Hungarian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

South Korea:15 | New Zealand:PG | Canada:PG | Ireland:PG | Singapore:PG | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Australian Film Finance Corporation (AFFC)

Disappointingly flat

This film is about a woman who works as a con artist trying to deceive Harry Houdini into believing that she has psychic powers.

"Death Defying Acts" sounds like an action movie, but the poster looks more like a romantic film. In fact it is neither. It is a slowly unfolding drama about how Mary attempts to con Harry, and how harry falls for her.

As Houdini is the greatest escape artist of all times, a film about him should have been exciting, thrilling and even death defying. However, this film has none of these attributes. The plot is slow, plain and not exciting at all. There is not much tension or drama to captivate me. I do not care about the characters, and whatever relationship they have between them. There is little chemistry between Guy Pearce and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Frankly, I think they are both miscast. Fortunately, Saoirse Ronan is delightful as the psychic sidekick. She is the one who save the film.

"Death Defying Acts" turns out to be a bore. I am quite disappointed by it.