It’s dark. A car pulls into a garage. BANG. The lights come on. A man falls to the floor, dead before he even knew he had company. Shaven headed, emotionless, and sporting mirrored sun glasses, Ray (Scott Ryan) is a cold blooded, emotionless assassin. We watch as Ray works, thanks to his neighbor Max, who accompanies him with his camcorder.

The Magician follows Ray Shoesmith, a hit man in Australia. Throughout the film we jump between a small number of story lines always focused on Ray. These stories are interspersed with snippets of conversations between Max and Ray. At first, Ray is unpleasant, unlikable, and cold. However, as he spends more time chatting to Max, he opens up a little, and as we begin to see a degree of intelligence, and even a sense of humor, we start to relate to him a little. Suddenly, without warning you find yourself not loathing or despising him, perhaps not liking him, but still being more relaxed with him than feels right. However, the more we learn about Ray, the more we notice how little we really do know. Who are the people we meet in the stories? Who does Ray work for? Who does he hit, and why?

As the movie progresses, it becomes increasingly likely that we are not going to find out the answers to many of these questions. This is not a film based on a mystery with a grand unraveling. This is much more like a documentary. This is a week in the life of Ray. This documentary style is emphasized as our entire viewing experience comes from Max's hand held camera. Thankfully this doesn't come with the sea-sickness feeling that can often occur with this type of filming.

Scott Ryan performs the roles of writer, director and actor. His major talent is firmly in the acting court however. He does an excellent job, portraying the self-loving hit man. He is totally believable whether he is stumbling for works, talking himself up or doing his job. However, he is made to look even better by some very average performances by the bit players, who are, in some scenes, cringingly bad. It’s hard to believe a dedicated director would have allowed this. There is a definite feel that this is the talented Ryan calling in his mates to play the other roles. A number of other scenes are somewhat transparent. It’s just a bit too clear what we are supposed to gain from the scenes. The film also suffers terribly from a slow and uneventful opening. With Ray starting out so cold and hard to relate to, he is also dull. However, the movie does eventually draw you in, but you definitely have to persist through the early stages.

There are a number of features of The Magician that immediately bring comparisons with Quentin Tarantino’s movies; the rapid jumping between storylines, the combination of extreme violence and dialogue, the mundane yet strangely interesting conversations and the overall disjointedness of the movie. It would be an insult to QT to suggest The Magician employs these techniques with anything like the same degree of success as Pulp Fiction or 'Dogs, but it does provide for an unsettling, unusual and intriguing viewing experience.

The Magician is not an overly gripping film. It is not a film to sit back and soak up. It is much more akin to a fairly interesting, dark documentary. As such, the Magician will not be to too many peoples’ tastes. However, it is certainly different to the majority of hit man movies. It is earthy and believable, and worth a look if that appeals.

Mark: 3/10
marking system explained