I think I saw this guy in a Star Trek episode, too. Maybe he’s a real monster?
Lord Of Illusions (1995) is a fusion movie, an attempt to cross one genre with another. These can sometimes work, usually if each genre works to illuminate, or even add to, the tropes of the other genre – or if the storytellers’ tongues are firmly glued to their cheek.
Lord Of Illusions is unfortunately earnest. Private detective Harry D’Amour, hired to investigate an insurance fraud, stumbles into the murder of a fortune-teller, Quaid, who, prior to messily expiring, warns D’Amour that “The Puritan” is returning. D’Amour is then hired by Dorothea Swann, the wife of the famed illusionist Phillip Swann, who are both obscurely connected to Quaid.
D’Amour is to be Phillip’s bodyguard, but it’s an exceedingly short assignment: Swann dies that night in an accident during his stage show, shish-kebabed by a few swords while he struggles to escape.
D’Amour, annoyed and, perhaps, a bit shaky from a brush with an exorcist in a previous story, investigates the death, including a visit to the repository of true magic at the Magic Castle (a real place) and, amid the growing piles of bodies, discovers Swann could do real magic.
Soon enough, Dorothea is kidnapped by the followers of The Puritan, a narcissist by the name of Nix, and Phillip Swann, previously considered dead and gone, turns up, terrified enough to wet his pants, but feeling an obscure loyalty towards Dorothea, so we’re off and galloping into the desert, returning to the scene of a crime more than a decade go, where people go mad and demons flit about, and a final confrontation with Nix. His followers meet some disgusting ends, we have a final battle, and, well, it’s all rather dull.
The problem is that the supernatural horror side of this story is too dependent on pulling handkerchiefs out of its ear in order to plug plot holes. None of the characters are either interesting or sympathetic, although Nix’ resemblance of certain politicians of today is a bit jarring. Not supernatural-wise – I hope – but in the monstrous personality flaws he exhibits.
D’Amour fails to generate much interest, as he doesn’t seem to be world-weary, like Bogart, or pursuing any kind of character arc – it just seems to be a job. He may be getting more and more horrified as the story goes on, but that’s about it. He’s a bit worn around the edges, but just a bit nappy – nothing actually fun.
So, despite the fine special effects, I want those two hours back. Violent and boring is not a good combination.
