Gregory Wilson "Ring Leader"

This is a review of Ring Leader. There are four effects on the video, but this review will be on the first and main effect, Ring Leader.

Effect: 9.8/10 (10 being strongest)

This is an incredibly strong effect when performed properly and with good patter. There are five stages to the main routine.

First, the magician CLEARLY threads the rope through the ring, and pulls it off. You can actually see the ring on the rope before it happens.

Next, the magician threads the rope through the ring again, and everyone thinks they have figured out how it is done and that the magician isn't really putting the ring on the rope. The magician shows that the ring is still on the rope. Nothing has happened, but this gets a laugh because the spectators thought they figured it out.

Next, the magician pulls the ring off the rope and puts it back on in the blink of an eye. This is incredibly visual.

The fourth stage, the magician pulls the ring off the rope and puts the rope over his shoulder. The ring vanishes and appears back on the rope.

Finally, the magician CLEARLY puts the ring in his hand with the rope still on it. The magician gives both ends to a spectator, pulls the ring off the rope, and makes it vanish. The ring reappears ON THE MAGICIAN'S FINGER.

Difficulty: 7/10 (10 being hardest moves, 1 being self working)(Difficulty is not included in the overall score, because some almost self-working effects can be just as strong as effects that take years of practice.)

This routine is actually not very hard. It takes practice like any routine, but most of the difficulty is in remembering the moves, not actually doing them.

Setup/Reset: 9/10 (10 being impromptu, 1 being most setup)

There is no setup. The only reason this has any setup at all is because you need to bring the rope. You can (and should) borrow the ring. This uses no gimmicks, no duplicates, and at the end you are ready to perform it again.

Clean Factor: 10/10 (10 being completely clean)

At the end you are completely clean. There is nothing to find and no gimmicks involved.

Gimmick: 10/10 (10 being unnoticeable or no gimmick, 1 being hard not to catch the gimmick)

As I said before, this routine uses no gimmicks, duplicates, or devices the spectators shouldn't see.

The effect almost couldn't be stronger, and it is hard to explain how great the routine is. In addition to the strong routine, Greg's patter makes the routine twice as strong.

10/10

 If you have any comments, questions, or criticism about this article, send an e-mail to:

feedback@magicshane.com

Be sure to include, "Gregory Wilson Ring Leader" in the subject line.

Shane Wiker

Copyright 2004