Now You See Me Review

Here's my review of the heist flick Now You See Me, which came out in late May. I didn't watch it until after it was released to DVD, but since it technically was a summer movie, I'll add it into my reviews of this summer's films.

So, in case you're unfamiliar with what this movie's all about, basically four of the world's best magicians are brought together to form "The Four Horseman", a team of world-class illusionists. They begin performing bank heists during their shows, and rewarding the audience with the money they steal. The motivations behind their actions, and the one who's pulling all the strings is unknown. I'm going to be honest; this movie's twist actually surprised me.

Now You See Me features a pretty impressive cast. Jesse Eisenberg, who you may remember portrayed Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network, plays the leader of this team of magicians. I loved his performance in The Social Network, but his character in this is very different from Zuckerberg. He's confident and charismatic. Eisenberg pulls it off well. The cast also boasts names like Woody Harrelson, Morgan Freeman, Mark Ruffalo, and Michael Caine. They all do acceptable jobs in their roles, though you can tell that Caine isn't fully invested in the movie. Who can blame him, though? This is a considerable step down from his films like Inception, The Prestige, and The Dark Knight trilogy. Overall, though, the cast did a nice job.

The movie had a lot of flash and style. This was often used to cover up the film's plot holes. The director, Louis Leterrier, is the man behind 2008's The Incredible Hulk, which I actually enjoyed. However, he also helmed the not-so-good Clash of the Titans. The moral of this story is that he is capable of quality film-making, but it isn't a guarantee with him. That is kind of like Now You See Me itself. There were moments of respectability in its narrative. However, they were few and far between. The story isn't the most interesting thing in the world, and the creators know that. Thus, the flare they deploy, I found, is often in times when the plot is lacking. So, while there is some visual dazzle and slickness to it, there are also some glaring plot deficiencies that I couldn't overlook.

Onto the twist I mentioned before. I am generally good at predicting the end of movies like this. I don't have difficulty following complicated plots, unless they are convoluted to the point where they literally don't make sense. Now, I am not saying all this to impress you in any way. I am merely letting you know that I'm used to keeping up with intelligent stories and predicting twists. That being said, I was not expecting what Now You See Me had up its sleeve. The possibility that the ending might be what it really ended up being crossed my mind at some point during my viewing. However, I wrote it off as implausible. So, I was very surprised that it indeed was the twist they went with. And, I must admit, they pulled it off. I wasn't disappointed with the plot twist as I thought I would be. For that, I give the writers props.

Conclusion

Stylishly flashy and slickly made, Now You See Me offers a few cool moments, but doesn't deliver enough to fully satisfy. If you have nothing better to do on a rainy day, it provides some undemanding entertainment. Just don't expect to get too much out of it.

Rating: 6.5/10