Criss Angel Clearwater Hotel Review

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I personally am a fan of Criss Angel, but this stunt left me with mixed emotions; not the way I saw him ending his career.  I was not impressed with this stunt at all, although the drama was there all the way through, the ending was weak and did not live up to the hype.

The act started with Criss outside handcuffed to the balcony railing on the second floor of the hotel. The clock started at 10:50 P.M. and Criss easily escaped from the Smith-Wesson police-issued handcuffs.  He then had to pick the door lock to enter the hotel room.  He failed, and shattered the hotel room window to avoid wasting too much time.

Its here my doubts about the act started, because within 2 to 4 seconds he managed to run through the hotel room, out the room door, run down the hall, open the first door to the stairway, and run up to the first flight of stairs to the second lock to pick?  Come on even the “Flash” would’ve had trouble pulling that off.

At the second door, he picked it without any complications, and ran up the next flight of stairs till he hit the roof.  At this point he is at about 1:30 seconds before implosion.  Criss then attempts to pick the final lock that will lead him to the roof and safety.  Unfortunately, he had the hardest time picking this lock, a lock he must pick to get out of the building alive.  The clock ticked down to 30 seconds, and the helicopter by law had to leave, so even if Criss managed to pick the lock he was stranded on the roof top.  Technically the act failed, and he was about to meet his demise.

The clock struck 0:00 and Criss still had not picked the lock.  The cameras go dead before you hear any blasting, which seemed a bit funny to me, and in seconds a magnificent display of pyrotechnics took down the Clearwater hotel, with Criss Angel inside. Certainly the most awesome part of the whole act.

At 10:58 P.M. Criss emerged from the scene, shocking the audience, but you didn’t see him fight his way out of the rubble, instead you see him crossing the street to get to the beach, this part to me, destroyed the act proving it was rigged. They could have made it look more believable. First of all, it’s impossible to survive 4500 tons of concrete falling down on ones body.  If Criss went down with the hotel and survived, he would have been buried in the ruble like the World Trade Center victims. None of them came walking out, they were dug out by rescue workers. The same would be true in this case as well. Even if Criss was on the roof when it imploded he still would have been buried alive. Upon walking across the street, Criss not only had no cuts or blood, odd for someone who just experienced sharp shards of concrete and steel falling all around him. His acting was terrible. He tried to look dazed and confused while walking a straight line with vigor. The concrete dust on him looked like one of those old Rice Crispy Treat commercials, where the mother throws flour in her face, to give the effect that she slaved over these treats all day, when really she was in the kitchen reading; it looked like someone threw concrete dust on him right in his face, because the rest of his body from the waste down was clean. Nobody would act or look as clean as he did if they went down with a building.  They should have brought him out with glory, clean as a whistle, like he magically “poofed” himself out at the last minute.  That would have been more amazing.

Overall, the master escape artist could not pick 2 of the 3 locks; not like Criss at all.  The act totally failed and it was so rigged at the end, that for me, this act was a complete disappointment. I’ll say it again, what a lame way to end your escape career. They said if he pulls this off he would earn his spot with the masters like Houdini and Copperfield, now we all know that it’s an illusion, but at least Copperfield and Houdini made it look real at the end.  Criss did not earn his place with those guys off this act.

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** I used the instance of the World Trade Center to convey a point that I hope everyone could understand what it takes to survive a building that collapsed; you can’t just crawl out of it like Angel did.  I hate that I had to use this example, but its the only example I know that publicly showed on TV that someone could relate to.  Every time something like this happens its a tragedy. I never meant any disrespect or to make fun of the tragic event.  I respect all that died and died trying to save the entrapped.  The World Trade Center, and the families of the 9-11 event will always be high in my heart full of my respect and forever on my mind!  They will never be forgotten!  Their lives will never be lost in vain!