Now You See Me is an incredibly fun film that I will most likely never want to see again. About 99% of the fun is figuring out the mystery behind the whole thing so once the mystery aspect is revealed...I can guarantee that you won't want to go for a second time. That is, unless you forgot everything from this film. The film is not as complex as Christopher Nolan's The Prestige but like that masterpiece...it engages the audience with the question of what are these magicians really up to? The film is directed by Louis Leterrier who has previously done four impressive films (The Transporter, Unleashed, The Transporter 2 and The Incredible Hulk.) However, the film he made before this was the unbearable remake of Clash Of The Titans. Here---Leterrier proves that his 2010 pile of garbage disguised as a remake was just a small misstep. Give the man a break---even the best directors make a bad film every once in a while. Now You See Me is another impressive film for Leterrier to add to his resume.
The film follows four street magicians (Isla Fisher, Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson and Dave Franco) who soon join forces to become a superior team of professional magicians. Seeing as one's an escape artist, one can do any card trick one can think of, one's a mentalist and one's a common thief....they have the powers to make it work and they use those powers. One night at a Las Vegas show....they pull off a bank heist that confuses every audience member. This isn't just any bank heist...they transport a man from Las Vegas, Nevada to Paris, France for crying out loud. Oh yeah...and they don't keep a penny for themselves. This trick not only confuses two FBI agents (Mark Ruffalo and Melanie Laurent) who are hot on their tail but the man who brought them together (Michael Caine.) The only person this trick doesn't seem to confuse is an ex-magician turned expert magic trick cracker (Morgan Freeman.)
The question now becomes why these four magicians did this heist in the first place. Are they setting up for an even bigger trick? Are they Robin Hood and his merry men in disguise? Or are they just ordinary thieves? This question keeps the audience invested throughout the entire film. If it were just a predictable reason as to why they are doing what they are doing...the film would be dull as watching paint dry. The film needed the mystery in order to be successful.
The question now becomes why these four magicians did this heist in the first place. Are they setting up for an even bigger trick? Are they Robin Hood and his merry men in disguise? Or are they just ordinary thieves? This question keeps the audience invested throughout the entire film. If it were just a predictable reason as to why they are doing what they are doing...the film would be dull as watching paint dry. The film needed the mystery in order to be successful.
That's not to say there's not some other bright spots in the film. The film is expertly performed by a very talented cast. Fisher, Eisenberg, Harrelson and Franco work well together. Caine and Freeman show just how experienced they can be. Laurent continues to show what a good actress she is. The surprise standout here is Ruffalo. He's been good in many other films in the past but this is the first time he's truly impressed me. He gives significantly more depth to his character than is deserved and leaves us wondering why Ruffalo isn't getting more work nowadays. Also...there are some really cool action scenes. They're shot in somewhat shaky cam form but they're well shot in and of themselves.
The film goes slightly wrong in a few spots. The end keeps throwing on twist on top of twist to the point where it becomes pretentious. That's only for the last few minutes, however. Some of the clues leading up to the big mystery aren't quite subtle enough. However, it would still take a lot of hard, deep thinking in order to figure out the whole reveal by these clues alone. That's about all I can say about it that is really considered a flaw.
Now You See Me is a very, very, very good film. I can't quite say it's great but it's so much fun that it doesn't need to be great. Sure---the film goes wrong and perhaps gets a bit full of itself here and there but these are very insignificant flaws for a film I enjoyed so much. I recommend seeing it with a big crowd and without much knowledge of the film going in. If you do both of these things...you too will have a blast.
(4 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated PG-13 for language, some action and sexual content)
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