'Now You See Me' review by Captain Raptor

'Now You See Me' review by Captain Raptor

I tend to keep abreast of film news, so Now You See Me was the rarest of treats for me; a film I hadn't heard a word about until the trailers hit the silver screen. It seems like a magic trick in itself that a film with such serious star power has inexplicably slipped under my radar (and nobody else's, it would seem). 

Now You See Me is essentially a film about trickery and deceit, similar to how the film uses incredibly talented actors to trick you into thinking that it's funny and interesting. The script itself is devastatingly bad, mostly devoid of wit and intelligence, but it takes a while for you to notice this because every single actor present is having a field day and hitting each line with precision delivery. The entire cast charm the audience throughout the film, but if you take a moment to think about what they're saying, it really is vapid. The screenwriters were so pleased with the line 'The closer you look, the less you can see' that they inserted into the film around half a dozen times and plastered it onto all the promotional material too. The plot isn't anything special, and while the various tricks and heists that the magicians pull are interesting, not that much happens that's worth speaking about. The scriptwriters seem to think that being confusing counts as being clever, so the story leaves a lot of unanswered questions. The film goes out of its way to reassure the audience that the illusionists are not in fact magic by having Morgan Freeman explain it all (which, incidentally, is how all movies should do their exposition), but then it makes it look like the writers are pulling stuff out of their ass when they don't explain a trick, like when Isla Fisher flies inside a giant bubble or when three people jump off a roof and transform into a pile of  exploding money in plain sight. This type of thing really requires an explanation.

A lack of focus also chains the movie down, and there's no clear protagonist, with all four magicians, Morgan Freeman and Mark Ruffalo's surly FBI agent all vying for the audience's attention and sympathy. Dave Franco's humbler and less famous street magician would seem like the obvious choice for the main character, but he's pretty much dropped about 10 minutes in, and never really seems to assist in any of the team's heists or magic shows (although the film's best sequence might be a short scuffle in which Franco comically evades Ruffalo with a few basic party tricks), so he is essentially superfluous - which might be quite fortunate because he doesn't seem to share any of his brother's charisma. Now You See Me would best be viewed as a demo reel - casting directors should watch this to see a bunch of actors at the top of their game.

Although the great performances keep the film watchable and even with a worse cast the film wouldn't be awful, I strongly recommend you don't watch this film because there are simply so many better alternatives. If you want an amazing cast doing clever things with magic, watch The Prestige. If you want a crime-comedy about charismatic thieves coolly liberating money from the rich and powerful, there are 5 fantastic seasons of Leverage on DVD. A good concept and an even better cast are wasted on a drab, styleless 90 minutes that hasn't been thought through at all.