Reviews

Gregory Wilson "In Action 2"

Kissing Off: A napkin is borrowed from a spectator (Assuming you’re in a location where someone has one) and a piece is torn off. The piece is lit on fire using a lighter and tossed into the air. As it comes down, it is seen to have changed into a Hershey’s kiss.

A quick and flashy effect, though not very practical. You can use it in restaurants, as long as you have everything set-up already. If you don’t do restaurant work, you could use your own napkin, but it’s not as impressive as using someone else’s.

8/10

Head Trip: Various objects are removed from a table and vanished in front of the spectator’s eyes.

This is one of my favorite effects from the video set. In the performance on the video, he vanishes food items off of a plate, saltshakers, peppershakers, a wine glass full of water, and even his jacket. You don’t have to use these items though. In On The Spot, he uses napkins. I know a lot of magicians who use this effect, and do it with bunches of toilet paper, pens, coffee cups, almost anything. Another thing that’s great about this effect is it’s comedic value. I won’t go into detail, but just make a note to try this when you learn it.

9.5/10

Off Base: The base off a wine glass is broken off. To restore it, the base is screwed onto the glass, and a lighter is used to weld them together again.

To me, this effect is good, but nothing more. It seems like a trick you might do when eating at a restaurant with someone, but I wouldn’t recommend it as part of a professional show.

7/10

Coin From Head: The performer has a spectator cup his/her hands, and out of nowhere, a coin falls onto the hands.

From the description, this sounds like a mediocre effect. However, despite the effect’s obvious title, everyone is watching closely at the person’s hands, so when the coin lands no one knows where it came from. It’s also a huge shock for the person who’s hands the coin falls onto. I tried this effect recently, and it got great reactions.

9/10

Coin/Credit Card Thru Table: A coin (Or credit card) is borrowed and placed onto the table. The coin is covered up with both hands, and when the hands are removed, the coin has apparently been pushed thru the table. The magician reaches under the table, and the coin drops onto his hands seconds later.

Coin/Credit Card Thru Table is a quick effect, but seems to be a little too obvious, even to laymen.

6.5/10

Vanish 5000: A sugar packet is torn open and carefully poured into the magician’s fist. The spectator holds his hand out below the magician’s to make sure no sugar falls out. The spectator watches closely the entire time, but when the magician opens his hand, the sugar is gone.

Vanish 5000 is a good effect, but what I don’t like about it is that the spectator never actually sees the sugar go into the hand. Instead all that is seen is the packet been dumped into the fist of the hand. On the plus side, you don’t need a TT, and you’re left completely clean at the end.

7.5/10

Multi-Color Pen: A wallet is taken out and inside is a pack of business cards. The magician brings out a sharpie and explains that it’s actually a multi-color pen, and will write in any color asked for. He then has a spectator sign his/her name on half of one of the cards. Now the magician has three spectators each call out colors. The magician pretends not to hear the colors correctly and instead writes down three different colors (For example: green, blue, and red). The magician now shows that the pen wrote in green, blue, and red, except it’s in black ink. The magician removes the card from the wallet and gives it to a spectator. When he/she turns the card over, each word is written in its respective color. Green is written in green ink, blue is written in blue ink, and red is written in red ink.

I tried to explain this effect in as much detail as possible, but since a lot of it is puns and subtle humor, it may not make much sense. Multi-Color Pen can be a good effect, particularly to hand out business cards.

8/10

Blind Date: The magician pulls out a wallet with a business card inside. A prediction is made on the card. A quarter is borrowed from the spectator, and the magician reads the date off of it (For example: 1965). The prediction in the wallet is read and seen to match the date the magician said. Of course, everyone wants to see the quarter to make sure the magician didn’t lie. When they look, they see that the magician lied and the date on the quarter isn’t what he said (For example: The real date was 1990). When all hope for the magician seems lost, he hands the card to the spectator and the date on the card has changed from 1965 to the real date on the quarter, 1990.

Wow, another confusing description. Like Multi-Color Pen, Blind Date is a great way to hand out business cards.

8.3/10

Learner’s Permit To Thrill: Someone hands you his or her business card. Holding it in your hand, you say, “That’s strange. I have a card that looks just like this.” You then proceed to pull their card out of your pocket.

This is a very basic version of License To Thrill. Maybe it’s just because I’m looking at it as a magician, but the one move used seems painfully obvious.

6/10

Flat-out Monte: 3 cards are shown, an Ace and two Jokers. The Ace is placed on the bottom, and the spectator is asked where the Ace is. They think it’s on the bottom but it’s actually on top. The Ace is placed on the table and the Jokers are placed on either side of it. The magician slowly mixed the cards, and asks where the Ace is. The spectators are sure they caught a move and know exactly where the card is, but their wrong. The two Jokers are picked up and the Ace is left on the table. The Jokers are clearly shown, but then they change into one card (The Ace), and the Jokers are on the table. The Ace is placed on the table, and a spectator covers it with their hand. One Joker is placed underneath the Ace, but the cards under the spectator’s hand change to the two Jokers, and the magician has the Ace.’

There’s not much to say, other than that it’s a great routine.

8.8/10

Recap (Performance Only):

Sticks and Stones (Performance Only):

Dishonest Abe: The magician shows a penny, and takes out a magnifying glass so the spectator can see it better. When the magnifying glass is removed, the penny has grown to 10 times its original size. The spectator is asked to hold out his/her hand, and when the magician drops the penny on the hand, the penny has again grown to be much larger than it was before.

Dishonest Abe is a routine that is sold separately. It’s also explained on the DVD, but you need special coins. Highly recommended.

9/10

Overall: Overall, I'd say that although Gregory Wilson's In Action 2 has more filler than the first volume, it's still a great video with a number of effects worth learning.

8.5/10

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Shane Wiker