Review: Now You See Me

I was interested in the film "Now You See Me" since I saw the first trailer. In fact, I was hooked after the first trailer and refused to watch any of the other trailers because I didn't want it to give away the entire film. So I went into "Now You See Me" pretty much blind. Going into it, all I knew about this movie was that Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, and Woody Harrelson were in it, and that they played magicians that performed bank heists. What I didn't know was that Mark Ruffalo, Morgan Freeman and Dan Franco are in it, and I didn't know that this movie would hold a twist that I didn't see coming at all. I can definitely say that I enjoyed this film while watching it, and enjoyed it much after I left the theater. Yes, there are MAJOR issues that I have with this film but overall I was very very impressed with it. Maybe it's because I went in blind, or maybe I am under analyzing this film, but for me it left me wanting more. I love magic, and I love the "Bonnie and Clyde" type of story so for me this film was great. Although, I feel like this was a metaphor for socialism which I'll get into later in the review, and there was an overkill of Illuminati references which is shame because to me, political things need too stay in the political realm and leave us movie goers alone, unless of course it's a political film. A major issue I had with the film was the writing and directing. Although I see the writing also as a very strong point of the film as well. Too me at some parts in the film the writing felt very cheesy, predictable, and it almost felt like there was no emotion put into it at all. One key issue with it would be the love connection that happens towards the end of the movie. I literally asked myself during this scene where it was "revealed", WHY? It really was not needed at all, it wasn't hinted at anywhere in the other parts of the film and it was almost as though the producer said "well, lets just add a love connection in there for the ladies." Which completely backfired for them because even my girlfriend thought it was stupid and pointless. Another issue with the writing was how predictable and long the chance scenes were. Like seriously, WE GET IT! We know how a chance scene will end, we know how these fight scenes will end. Is it really necessary for them to be almost 20 minutes long? The last issue I have with the writing is (SEMI SPOILER) when a death occurs halfway through the film I felt no emotion what so ever that, that character just died. It wasn't heart felt, it was to quick, and seriously WAY to random. (SPOILER OVER) With the directing a big issue I had with it was how much damn CGI he used. Yes, okay at some parts in this movie the CGI was needed and completely necessary but I came to watch a movie about magicians performing tricks, and that's what I wanted to see! Magician's performing tricks! Not actors pretending to perform tricks but it really being all CGI. ALSO! This new CGI Fire looks terrible.. I've noticed in recent films that it looks worse and worse each time. If you don't want to know any spoilers then stop reading at the bottom of this paragraph. Really good aspects of this film, like I said earlier was really the writing. The first half's writing was very quick and drew you in while the second half's writing was still fast, and explained how everything worked. On top of that, there is a very well written twist at the end that I did not see coming at all. The acting was also a VERY strong part of this film. Mark Ruffalo, Jesse Eisenberg, and Morgan Freeman all stand out to me and deserve praise for their roles in this film. ESPECIALLY, Mark Ruffalo for being able to play one character while pretending too be another.  Overall I enjoyed this film a lot and would recommend to anyone to go and watch if they want to see a fun action, magic, chase movie with a GREAT twist at the end. Now, onto the sections with the spoilers.

*SPOILERS START HERE*

I'm going to start with the bad things about this movie and then move on to the good so that you don't go into this film with a bad taste left in your mouth and expecting it to be terrible. I was VERY VERY VERY disappointed with how there was really NO LOGIC at all in the writing. Okay yes, the film is about magic, it's going to be far fetched. I totally understand that, but it is impossible to have a girl float 50 feet in the air with a stupid bubble. This happened in "The Four Horsemen's" second show. When I saw that I was in awe because of how far fetched it was. Another issue I had with the writing as I stated earlier was the stupid, and pointless love connection between Dylan Hobbs(Mark Ruffalo) and Alma Varges(Melanie Laurent.) This was never hinted at in the film that they might be interested in each other, and the fact that they just randomly kissed at the end of the last show made no sense and was quite pointless in my mind. 

Another thing about this film that just pissed me off was the un timely, quick, and unemotional death of Jack Wilder(Dan Franco.) Although it was a staged death and that we come to find out later that the character never really died, they needed to make the audience feel like the young magician actually killed himself to help protect his friends. Instead all I got out of it was the feeling of "What the hell juts happened?" and not the good kind. The bad feeling because I was confused on 1) why the hell did he do that 2) did that really need to happen? and 3) it was so damn quick that I really have no clue what just happened. 

The final major issue I had with "Now You See Me" was all the CGI. If I'm going to see a movie about magicians, I want magic. Not computer images. K thanks. It was just very unnecessary at times it made me feel like the director and producer are just to lazy to do stuff the old fashioned way. Another notable terrible part of the film was the directing. We don't want to see a 15 minute chase scene. The pacing in this film was somewhat decent but became REALLY boring during the chase scenes, both car and on foot.

Now onto the good parts of the film. It's so weird that the writing can  be both the best and worst aspect to film isn't it? Can I just say, the twist at the end blew my mind. I honestly did not see it coming at all. What I was expecting was for the character Thaddeus Bradley(Morgan Freeman) to be the person behind all of it but instead it was Dylan Rhodes(Mark Ruffalo), the FBI agent that was trying his best to bust the magicians and make it impossible for them to continue robbing banks. It's honestly a hard twist to explain without you seeing it. All I can say is that I was shocked and my mind was blown with that twist.

The acting is also very notable. I felt like everyone in the cast did a terrific job and deserve's praise for their roles. I'm going to combine this section with the note I made earlier in the review about the film being a metaphor for socialism and all the damn Illuminati references. Honestly, I'm getting sick of Hollywood having political under tones in almost every single movie coming out today. Leave politics in politics and political films. Don't make the Illuminati a secret organization of  magicians. It's not needed and is pointless. It really got annoying about halfway through the film when they kept bringing up "The All Seeing Eye." And I feel like this film was a metaphor for socialism because they were taking money from the rich and dispersing it out equally among everyone so that everyone is "equal." 

Overall I really enjoyed "Now You See Me" apart from the issues that I stated in my review and definitely recommend it to anyone that likes a good twist, great acting, sci-fi and magic! 

CONS: Terrible writing, terrible directing, stupid CGI, stupid and pointless "romance", some parts felt like they were dragging, untimely pointless and unemotional "death" 

PROS: AMAZING Twist, GREAT acting, decent pacing, fun while watching it, fun after watching it, draws you in quick

RATING: 7 1/2 out of 10

Article by Matt Skajem