Now You See Me

"Now You See Me" (2013) is a tremendously fun film starring Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, Morgan Freeman, and Michael Caine.

Four magicians (Eisenberg, Harrelson, Fisher, and Franco) are invited to an address. Inside, they encounter a few tricks. A year later, these four have become The Four Horsemen and are doing a show in Las Vegas. They end the first performance that we see with a bank robbery that doesn't look like an illusion.

The FBI gets right on it and sends in an agent, Dylan Rhodes (Ruffalo) and Interpol sends one as well, Melanie Laurent (Alma Dray). Rhodes is arrogant and thinks figuring out how these four did it is going to be easy, but it isn't, even with the help of a big-time illusionist exposer (Freeman). Of course, that robbery isn't going to be their last as the agents become more and more frustrated.

Be ready for the twists and turns, distractions, and sleight of hand. Nothing is as it seems.

Highly entertaining film, with good performances from the young cast, working alongside two major pros, Caine and Freeman. I know the film is preposterous but so are a lot of plots. When a film is well done, I say just relax and go along with it. I'm always amazed at how people review a film like this as if it's Citizen Kane. My advice: If you want reality, don't watch movies.

This is one of those movies that is somewhat entertaining upon first viewing but is easily forgettable and has nothing of substance to make a second viewing possible to enjoy. The plot is convoluted as we don't know what the main characters are doing or why. In fact, everything we know about the 4 magicians is revealed in the first 10 minutes of the movie and after that there is ZERO character development! The entire movie appears to have been made solely for the sake of the ending and yet it was so cliché that I was actually a little angry about the way they did it. It's unfortunate that in the filmmaker's attempts to be clever they neglected the most fundamental elements of storytelling: plot and character.

Like a magic show without magic, you may find yourself somewhat entertained but inevitably wind up disappointed in the end because they left out the most important part of the show.

Imagine Now You See Me as Ocean's Eleven meets The Prestige and you sort of get what director Louis Leterrier was going for with this film. Is Now You See Me as successful as the aforementioned films? Not necessarily, but it's a fun movie that deconstructs the acts of modern magicians.

The story follows four Vegas magicians, known as the Four Horsemen, who rob a bank in the middle of one of their shows. What follows is a cat-and-mouse thriller where the FBI chases after these magicians, always one step behind, trying to figure out how they did it.

Where Now You See Me works best is when Leterrier creates cinematic sequences showing us how these magicians used real-life magic tricks to befuddle and dupe both their victims and the FBI. As well, if you want a film with twists and turns, this one will not disappoint. While most of the major twists can be found out before revealed, there is still a joy in watching those twists unfold, thanks to Leterrier's Sherlock Holmes' style of visual deduction. However, the script often falters in one of the most crucial areas, that of character.

Leterrier and company are constantly trying to balance the breakneck pace with the large cast of characters, and it just leaves the characters hanging out to dry. Character development is sorely lacking in Now You See Me, to where I never really cared about any of the characters. Part of this is because the film is constantly shifting points of view. The first thirty minutes follow our Robin Hood-like magicians, and then it switches to the FBI agents tracking them down, but then the film has the magicians constantly one step in front of the FBI to the point that it makes the FBI often come across as buffoons, and I find it hard to care for characters who are so easily fooled. Ultimately, I feel that had the film focused entirely on one set of characters, like the magicians or the FBI, the film would have been stronger and been easier to find a focal point, but as it is the film's core is often muddled.

While Now You See Me may not be a grand slam, it's still entertaining, thanks to the thrills and visual style of the film. Bottom line, if you're a fan of the heist genre, you'll like this movie. For me though, it just lacks a further script rewrite to have become one of the best examples of the genre.

I give Now You See Me an 8 out of 10!

And I will not back up with this statement. It is a good movie, because it's not a boring movie, but it is that kind of movie that you watch once and walk away and forget all about it.

First off, let me tell you why movies involving magic tricks don't work. Because magic is for live audience and everything made on camera loses the main purpose of magic. In order to enjoy it, we have to subscribe to things that defy plausibility, we are obliged to take unrealistic facts for granted. But let's say we're OK with that. The Illusionist or The Prestige worked that way.

The real problem here is that the storyline is cynical and walks on a path of plain 'by the book' twist after twist after twist scenario, even though they lack of substance, motivation, trying to create an undeserved WOW effect. Plus, they forced in a classical fling to satisfy all viewers. There are major unrealistic events, but I guess the movie is not for us who try to find logic, but for those who just want to be entertained and see sparkles.

"Now You See Me" came out of nowhere and became the sleeper hit of 2013, getting good word of mouth during its theatrical run. Having seen the movie for myself, I am kind of puzzled by its popularity. Certainly, the movie is far from the worst movies I have ever seen - it's colorful, and doesn't have a dead spot despite running almost two hours long.

But there were some things about the movie that annoyed me enough to prevent me from liking it. The biggest problem is with the characters. Except for Freeman's character, there is not one likable character in the movie. The law enforcement agents investigating the magicians are loud and obnoxious, and the four magicians come across as extremely smug. (Also, there is no attempt to give the magicians real and separate personalities - they all act alike.)

The characters were the main reason why I didn't like this movie, but there were other problems as well. One other major annoyance is the depiction of the magic acts. They have been jazzed up with CGI and other special effects so they don't feel like REAL magic acts - they come across as artificial. Also, as the movie progresses, the various feats the magicians pull off slowly become more unbelievable (and not fully explained) that eventually I wanted to cry out loud, "Oh, COME ON!" Less slight of hand and a more realistic approach would have been a much better approach.

(Note to Michael Caine fans: His role is really just an extended cameo appearance.)