Review of Holy Grail by Jordan Johnson
Review of Holy Grail by Jordan Johnson
Effect:
A playing card is signed by the spectator. The card is then clearly shown to be the only card held by the magician as it is visually torn into 4 pieces. Throughout the entire tearing process, both sides of the card are shown multiple times and also showing that this is in fact the only card, and the only pieces of the card that are held in the hands. Without any switches or ditches the card is then reassembled one section at a time. With the restoration of each section it is clearly demonstrated that the pieces have in fact been securely restored. In the end you hand out the card for inspection. It is clearly the spectator’s signature, and you don’t even see any lines where the card was torn. It is totally restored to its original condition. The Holy Grail does require preparation & practice and is recommended for intermediate to advanced magicians.
Method:
The method is devilishly cleaver and well thought out. Jordan Johnson definitely did his homework on this one. Jordan did more than sufficient testing while developing this routine, and it clearly shows that he did not rush through a neat concept just to get it out on the market. He spent a lot of time testing different elements of how to best produce the desired effect. His time and thought behind the effect is evident when he gives his instructions. I would like to add a personal note that I thought it was admirable for Jordan to give credit to the magicians who came before him and inspired his creation of the Holy Grail.
Advanced Method:
Jordan took additional time to present not only a basic routine, but he also added a very well thought out advanced method and presentation. With the basic routine you watch the card get restored and then handed to the spectator to see that all the tear marks are even gone. In the advanced method, you can show the spectator the tear lines being restored individually. In other words, the card is put back together but you can still see where it had been torn. A magical stroke of your finger now removes the tear line from side to side, but the tear line from top to bottom is still clearly seen. Another magical stroke of your finger and the vertical tear line is now gone. No matter how closely the spectator examines the card, they will no longer see where the card was torn.
Performance:
In my opinion this is one of the strongest visual pieces of magic I have seen for a “Torn and Restored” card routine. It comes about as close to real magic as anyone could expect. The only weak spot I found was the clean up at the end. Since the Holy Grail is recommended for intermediate to advanced magicians, I was hoping for a better clean up at the end, maybe something a little more original. The clean up that Jordan suggests does not really have a good reason for the additional movements, however it is still effective and it gets the job done. Even with that said, I’m sure the professional magician will have no problems coming up with their own ending which would be much cleaner and more convincing.
Instructions:
Jordan did an excellent job in walking you step by step through the whole process. It was not rushed, and it was not overly drawn out with a lot of boring repeats of things he had already covered. His instructions were very concise and to the point while being completely thorough. It was exactly as long as it needed to be. Jordan even took the time to show special handling moves that add a lot of power to the presentation. These were subtle moves, but moves none the less that take the presentation to a higher level. I don’t really want to tip the hat as to what these were, but I will say that they were greatly appreciated.
Quality:
The DVD takes about 60 minutes to cover the performance and Explanation. It was nicely produced including a menu that allows you to jump between sections of the DVD. The graphics and video presentation were very modern using a split 4 panel view and some interesting special effect. My video machine had no problems reading the disk. There were no digital skips, jumps, or frame freezes. Overall the reproduction of the disks held to the high end of the industry standards. On a technical note, I would suggest that Blacks Magic works a little more with the audio during the instructional phase. It sounds like they used the cameras external microphone instead of using a direct feed from a wireless microphone. This added to a little additional room echo which has a tendency to cheapen the production quality, but it was not so bad as to distract from the message.
Additional Notes:
It appears as if Jordan’s effect may not be totally unique. In fact, someone else had a very similar effect that was at least shown in video form some two years earlier than Jordan’s version. However, James Clark and the team at Blacks magic did consult with this other magician and it was agreed that this was a case of Independent Creation and not a theft of an effect. James gives plenty of notification of this on the DVD, and also gives credit to the other magician who has performed a very similar effect. I say kudos to the Blacks Magic team for making this acknowledgement. I think this will go a long ways towards showing the credibility of James Clark, Jordan Johnson, and the entire Blacks Magic Team. I wish more companies would display this type of concern and diligence towards acknowledging the others within the industry.
Summary:
If your routines include card magic, especially “Torn and Restored” routines, the $24.95 you will spend on Holy Grail seems to be more than fair. They probably could charge even more. My only concern is that beginners will get this and start posting bad performances all over the internet. This effect should be sufficiently rehearsed before presented. Bad performances made public will only take a strong effect and cheapen it for everyone. I would suggest that Blacks Magic make a secret forum area for the people who purchase this effect. Owners could then privately discuss alternate handlings, post private videos for review, and receive suggestions from Jordan Johnson or others on how to improve their performance before the show it publicly. If this method and technique are closely guarded then this could easily be one of the classics for years to come.
Until we appear again,
Kipp Sherry
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