Customer Reviews

David Blaine - Fearless

5 star:		(43)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

You may have caught some of "street magician" David Blaine's act on his TV specials that had limited runs. Not too worry; "David Blaine: Fearless" gathers them all up, and throws them all onto one DVD, and then some. You can generally find this DVD priced the same as "discount" DVDs, so you won't be paying the normal $20 plus that DVDs command.

Blaine's amazing tricks are super-cool but wouldn't have held their own displayed merely in a Vegas showroom; it's the who and where that makes this DVD special. Blaine often performs his tricks up close and with plenty of audience participation, to an extremely diverse set of people. He bites a quarter in half and spits it back to make it whole in front of some LA street thugs. He performs his famous levitation at the Dallas Cowboys training camp, sending Deion Sanders running, his wits barely intact. He pulls various "pick a card" tricks on a pair of grandmothers sitting on a bench, despite their initial declaration that they're not into magic tricks. A bunch of soccer girls at a rest stop scream with glee when makes a name appear out of ash.

Blaine even ventures into a remote South American jungle, where an tribe that has been mostly isolated from civilization serves as the challenge; the only way he can communicate with them is magic, but will "pick a card" mean anything to them or impress a culture with no concept of quarters, Aces or Spades? Blaine adapts and amazes them by squeezing drinkable amounts of water from random places or making a ball multiply within a closed fist. He does this again with other journeys to foreign areas.

Many of Blaine's tricks are true head-scratchers that will leave even the most cynical viewer amused. I've already described a significant amount of his simpler tricks, so I'll leave the rest for the DVD to show, including an act that is more endurance than magic: fighting hypothermia and mental breakdowns as he remains encased in an ice prison on a busy sidewalk for a couple of days.

He has a different sort of charisma; he's so laid back but you still get the sense that he truly treats magic as an art, not as an attempt to hoodwink you; but at the same time he isn't so overly serious that you can associate with him.

This is a great DVD to have; magic is an all-genre, all-gender thing. You can pop "Fearless" in anytime at any setting, be it a small gathering, a big party, or in your portable DVD player while waiting for your flight at the airport. There's very little filler material, which is a good thing; they've packed in as much material as they can.

A must-buy for anyone.

It seems like David Blaine does standard old-school tricks like biting the quarter in half or sleight-of-hand card switches in order to make his more mind-blowing illusions seem a little less spooky. I have read the editorials by magicians debunking some of his more pedestrian tricks but I haven't read any plausible explanations on how he managed to aid the guy in buying the winning $1600 lottery ticket (don't tell me they cut out the footage of hundreds of losing tickets) or managed to drop a woman's ring into a sewer grate and then find it minutes later inside a tiny liquor bottle on the ground behind the crowd of onlookers. There are at least a dozen of these "tricks" on the DVD that are absolutely astonishing. He is an unworldly character and the video is an outstanding document of his abilities.

Most of David Blaine's magic is a close-up magic and as a previous reviewer said - yes, practicing magicians are familiar and can do most of the magic presented on this video. Nevertheless, most people are not practicing magicians, and even those who are, will appreciate the presentation. DVD is wonderful to watch and non-magicians in particular will be astonished and delighted. Most of the magic revolves around sleight-of-hand - with cards, coins, rings, and bills, then you'll see levitation, which involves - hmm, mainly distraction (I guess it wouldn't be exactly sleight-of-feet), and then you'll watch David encased in a block of ice for three days and more fun stuff. And you'll hear lots of screams from astonished participants.

David Blaine is a master. This collection of "greatest hits" from his previous three TV specials is astonishing. Yes, it's all an illusion. Yes, super slo-mo allows you to pick many of the card tricks apart. Yes, you can see how he does some of it. But that sure doesn't mean you or I or anyone else could do it.

This is not slick Vegas-style magic. This is one-to-one personal interaction between Blaine and his audience. The send up, with his 'mysterious aura' about him is tolerable. I actually enjoy it, understanding the context with which he presents it. Magic is very, very old, and this guy is as much a student of its history as he is a master of the craft.

I was going to describe my three favorite scenes but then realized that would ruin the presentation. So, I will simply say what they are. Buy this disc and see what you think.

Personal favorite: Asking a woman on the street to think of the name of person important to her.

Second personal favorite: The little girl and her mom at a sidewalk cafe.

Third personal favorite: Levitation. Seeing is believing!

David Blaine will be the first to admit that his magic is all trickery as amazing as it is. This DVD contains some of the most amazing tricks you'll ever see. I was a bit dissappointed to find that he did use some editing techniques which cheapened his tricks, but if you take the DVD for what it's worth, there is still some amazing content. I guess one of the advantages of using a camera is that you can edit it. As for the levitation trick, in the Bonus Material there is one that shows how it looks to the person watching, which if you slow it down enough, you could see how he did it. It's still very good. Also, many of the card tricks can be figured out if you slow them down, but his ease with the cards is still impressive. There are some tricks I still can't figure out, but that's what makes him a great magician. All these people that criticize him are bogus or jealous. One aspiring magician said that Blaine was hurting Magic, I feel that he lifted it to a new level and made it fun and popular again. One person said that if you call the DVD magic then you might as well call Star Wars magic. That's silly because Blaine rarely uses editing techniques and the magic that does not use it is still incredible. The truth is that everyone that was impressed was real, maybe he didn't show us exactly what he showed them, but he impressed them somehow. It's worth buying. You'll impress all your friends.

Having been a close-up magician for over 13 years, I guess I might have a somewhat biased opinion about Blaine compared to most people who haven't really seen any good close-up magic before he came along. With that out of the way, here are some of the things I liked and disliked about the specials:

Pros: David Blaine seems to have helped to get rid of the stereotypical "magican" image that many people seem to have - the crazy guy in the top hat on stage using people in elaborate costumes and ornately decorated boxes. The presentation he uses is generally direct and to the point, making the effects seem potentially more impressive than they would otherwise have been. Plus, the feeling of being out on the street, in a more "normal" setting, makes everything seem more real than it would otherwise seem. Finally, I respect the amount of time he's obviously put into learning all the sleight of hand and presentation used in his effects, even if the actual effects all originated elsewhere.

Cons: Just about everything is edited really heavily, in some cases making it look like Blaine did things that are pretty much impossible to do in real life. In some cases, this is even somewhat pointless (like his levitation, for example), since he could have just shown the real version with as much impact. Also, it would be nice if he changed his patter (ie what he said during the trick) every once in a while . Granted, the seriousness of his presentation is one of the things that made him so popular and impressive, but hearing "watch, watch, watch...." over and over again gets pretty repetitive after a while. Lastly, some of his sleight of hand is pretty obvious in places (if you're watching his hands, not following his well-placed misdirection). With the amount of editing that the rest of the series had, you'd think it would be easy enough for him to simply redo the trick with other people so that it wouldn't be as easy to see what he was doing.

Anyway, that's my two cents on the series. If you haven't seen Blaine yet, it will probably be enjoyable to watch. Better yet, go see a good close-up magician in person if at all possible.

Mr. Blaine is unhuman. He is unnatural. Let's get real, he isn't either of those things. What he is, is extremely talented. I don't know how he does the things that he does, but there is a way. Maybe he is magical, whatever the case my be, this dvd has provided hours upon hours of entertaining friends, and I've never got sick of watching it. It's great inviting new friends over that have never experienced Mr. Blaine's magic, and just watching their reactions to the show. He does all his magic in public, no stage, no lighting tricks. It's all him. A must have for anyone that loves, or even likes, magic.

It's that good! This DVD has incredible magic. AND, it is LONG!! You are not short changed on this DVD. The stuff is QUALITY and it is very entertaining. It is VERY VERY lengthy and this is great. There are hidden features and great tricks. This is a MUST HAVE for magicians and great addition to the collection of a non-magician. I can't say enough about this DVD. Simply great. By the way, FOX did not expose all of his tricks. Also, David Blaine does not have "special powers", he's just a really good and innovative magician.

This move is fascinating. Some of David Blaine's magic you may have seen elsewhere but some of it is simply astonishing. I don't want to give away any of the specifics but this is a movie you'll find yourself "rewinding" to watch something one more time to try to figure out, "How can he do that?!". But, that's only 1/2 of his story - the rest is in his tests of human endurance and finding the boundaries of what he can do. Between this movie and one other, we see him perform these feats - he buries himself alive, he stays entombed in ice for days on end, and stands 10 stories above ground for a couple of days with no food, no water - simply perched on a platform that looked to be, at most, 2' x 2'. Amazing. I loved it.

David Blaine is extremely watchable and will completely blow your mind with the magic he performs. Despite doing a lot of card tricks (probably some of the best you will ever see mind you) the variety of tricks he performs will truely amaze you.

I'm sure he could start religions after some of his performances - the people are so engaged. It's interesting to note that some people believe that he is spiritually gifted, or some kind of guru. Although he will leave you doubting the laws of science, he is still mortal and just an illusionist, albeit also one of the best in the world. Due to his street performances he can't use any fancy props, which makes you wonder even more how he is able to achieve such amazing effects. If you knew however, it wouldn't be hardly as entertainin.

If you love magic (and let's face it, who doesn't?) you certainly won't be disappointed if you buy this DVD and I guarantee you will want to show all your friends.