Duel of the Magicians

After the successful collaboration on the two "National Treasure" movies, actor Nicholas Cage, director Jon Turtletaub and producer Jerry Bruckheimer have teamed up again to give audiences the best popcorn entertainment with great effects and an exciting story. At least in part, they succeeded again this time.

The film was inspired by an episode about a sorcerer's apprentice battling out-of-control brooms, which Disney has presented before, then as an animated version, in "Fantasia". This scene can also be seen in "Duell der Magier", embedded in a rather thin, but nice fantasy story: Actually, physics-stud Dave (Jay Baruchel) only wants one thing: not to attract attention if possible. And maybe win the heart of his beautiful commoliton Becky (Teresa Palmer). But a life as the successor of the legendary magician Merlin was not at all on his agenda. Too bad Merlin's one-time close ally Balthazar Blake (Nicolas Cage) has chosen him for that very task. But as much as Balthazar himself may not believe that the unassuming Dave, of all people, should be the chosen one, he's also aware that he needs the boy and the powers slumbering within him to fight his arch-nemesis Maxim Horvath (Alfred Molina). For he plans to free a witch who has been imprisoned for centuries and who is so incredibly powerful that even Balthazar could do nothing against her - which would amount to the end of the world. And so the fate of all humanity lies in the hands of a true nerd...

"Duell der Magier" has a lot of potential: the actors are well chosen, the effects are decent, and the story itself is entertaining. Nicholas Cage, who last wowed in the unfortunately somewhat underwhelming "Kick-Ass", plays a bit lackadaisical in some moments, but overall delivers an enjoyable performance. Jay Baruchel actually acts exactly as he did in his last feature film, "Too Sharp to Be True", which may seem a bit one-note, but is very fitting for the role of the sorcerer's apprentice against his will. Alfred Molina is great as always, but his commanding portrayal of the evil magician gets buried a little too much under special effects. The rest of the cast are rather marginal characters. But while the thoroughly talented Teresa Palmer is nothing more than fodder for the eye, Britain's Toby Kebbell ("Prince of Persia") gets to be at his best as Drake Stone, a sort of pop star among magicians. There's no question that his far-too-brief appearance is one of the film's comedic highlights.

It's a shame that any approach to originality, wit, and suspense is overrun by a jumble of sometimes very good, sometimes somewhat disappointing special effects. "Duell der Magier"makes it clear in its best moments that the film could have had a lot more potential than just providing nice popcorn cinema for the eye. But unfortunately, too little emphasis was put on fleshing out the story and thus perhaps laying a good foundation for possible sequels. As it is, however, the viewer gets the feeling halfway through the film that all the potential here has been exhausted.

No question, "Duell der Magier" entertains well. In some places, very well, in fact. The film looks good and is carried by decent acting performances for the genre. But unfortunately the film lacks exactly what a work with the title "Duell der Magier" in no case should be missing: magic! The spectacle of effects does not seem magical at all, but much too slick and well constructed. Thus the inclined viewer is entertained well, but the desire to see more of Balthazar and his sorcerer's apprentice does not really arise. Therefore: With deductions worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp