David Blaine: Magic Man (1998 TV Movie) User Reviews

Wow, the finest live performer of our time.

[FesterSam · 10/10 · 30 November 2000]

Houdini who? David Blaine is the real thing. From his feat of magic to his feats of endurance we are treated to a visual cavalcade of illusions that will freak you out. I came upon this special accidentally and had never heard of David before. All it took was that one look, and I realized that I had found the most talented magician of our day. I hate to use the word "magician" when describing David, because it tend to lump him into the group of artists who grace the stage with their illusions. One of the things that sets David apart is that he does his work right in your face. Walking among his fans, he chooses to let you in, dares you to stare right at him while he entertains you, and never letting you see what his magic is. Illusions and tricks are one thing, but to make grown adults belive in magic is his most special gift. David, if you ever read this.....Rock On Buddy!!!!!

seems like a real kind of a magician dude

[raindead · 3/10 · 14 September 2006]

I kinda enjoyed these things until I started to dabble in in those things myself. The thing is: television makes stuff a lot more real than it really is. And it makes me sick that Blaine is trying to sell all this stuff as real magic. All that spiritual stuff and people saying wow this guy is a *real* magician. And standing for three days surrounded by some ice blocks. Even an idiot should know it doesn't really make a difference if you're standing in the middle of the street or inside some blocks of ice. But Blaine got some serious frost bites and couldn't walk for weeks. Maybe that's the real magic. That was the contrivance in the previous "piece of work" from that guy. What's really interesting in this particular one is Blaine going to Haiti and to some tribes in the rainforest of wherever. This old lady, after she's been shown the trick, makes a reference "you must be really smart". The children mostly seem to know what's going on. You would think those people would be the first ones to be fooled. But maybe this is just another one of the tricks. Back to the Blaine guy, it really makes me sick he's trying to pass these things as real, and the naiive audience on the streets (and even some famous people, they seem to get paid a lot) are just contributing to the whole scam. A lot of magicians these days use some "explanation other than trickery" so they at least look credible, but saying *all* this stuff is real, come on, jump on the wagon.

Not the approach to magic I like

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 15 April 2019]

"David Blaine: Magic Man" is an American award-winning documentary from 1998, so this one is over 20 years old already now and was directed by fairly famous filmmaker Harmony Korine. But the star is of course the man in the title, magician David Blaine. At under 40 minutes, this is one of his shorter works and basically a collection of magic tricks involving cards and mindreading for the most part. I must say I am not a big fan of Blaine and his approach and that I can say for sure having seen some of his stuff now. For me it is too much about himself than about magic and as a consequence I couldn't care less about how he does what he does. What is offered in here in terms of street magic, is still a bit more on the subtle side compared to some of the big projects he had soming up in the years afterwards. Here he is still in his 20s. Another thing I don't really like is the touchy, almost pick-up artist like idea behind his efforts here, the hand on the "victim's" head, the hand on her breasts almost really. Anyway, the tricks he shows aren't bad at all, especially the one with the shoes and police officers, so it is a bit sad for me personally this is not entirely about his craft, but he is also selling himself very much to audiences here. Just like Uri Geller did and fittingly he is credited as a cast member here too. Anyway, it's okay for Blaine that he does what he does as it perhaps turned him into the world's most famous magician with this approach and I can see others really like it. So from my subjective approach, I give this film a thumbs-down and don't recommend checking it out. But yeah chances are high this is not the first Blaine film you've come across, so if you like him go see this slightly underseen movie. It is not a failure by any means, but it has a bit of a Jackass approach to it and I don't like it. Also not defining whatsoever for Korine, if you like him not a reason to watch at all, not a trademark movie for him by any definition.