NEW MOVIE: Now You See Me Movie Review

Finally, I review a film that's still in theaters! But, you know, it could always disappear from the box office.

Now You See Me is the newest magic movie, and it sure is creating quite a bit of a buzz at the box office, maintaining a position in the top 5 since it came out on May 31. So this review is belated... but still relevant!! Now You See Me follows four magicians, The Four Horsemen, who, after apparently robbing a bank, are hunted by the FBI in a classic game of cat-and-mouse. But, as Wizards of Waverly Place told us back when Disney Channel was still kicking, everything is not as it seems.

Like the apocalyptic comedy This is The End (which is also out in theaters), this is an ensemble piece if ever there was one. The Four Horsemen are composed of magicians who specialize in different fields of the art: escapism, mentalism, sleight-of-hand, and showmanship, and in the opening stunt of the film, all of these come together in a way. This opening stunt, however, turns out to be a bank robbery, prompting FBI agent Dylan Rhodes, played by Mark Ruffalo (The Hulk from The Avengers), and a French Interpol Agent to enlist the help of a magic debunker, played by Morgan Freeman (The Shawshank Redemption, Bruce Almighty, the Dark Knight trilogy, Oblivion, and several documentaries), to get as many steps ahead as possible. Not to mention that Michael Caine gets an extended cameo!

That's really all you need to know about the movie. The acting or character development doesn't quite matter, because the film moves so fast. Would it have been nice to have seen more character development so we can connect with the Horsemen more? Yes, but there was simply no time. While acting doesn't really matter here, I will say that Woody Harrelson really stands out as The Mentalist.  With plenty of one-liners to spare, he has the best charisma of the Four Horsemen. Now if you come to this movie because of Sir Michael Caine, you may be disappointed. His character is treated like he was in The Dark Knight Rises. He's with you in the beginning, and you hardly see much else of him. But, like in The Dark Knight Rises, he's used as much as his character needs to be.

It's a great chase, though. A stand-out scene involves an FBI break-in that turns into a showdown between Mark Ruffalo and "Horseman of Death" Wilder, played by Dave Franco (Scrubs, 21 Jump Street). Wilder uses stealth and classic magic tricks to evade Ruffalo before racing on the street, turning traffic into a massive deck of cards and sleight-of-hand trick. It's probably one of the best action sequences I've seen in a movie to be honest. 

That said, there are a few flaws. Freeman's character, the debunker, certainly is reasonable in his theories of how the tricks are done. However, the movie isn't very plausible. Even Sherlock Holmes and Moriarity could not have been so many steps ahead as these guys are. Yet it is reasonable, so it doesn't detract from the experience too much, but there's a lot of faith and trust that are needed with this pixie dust. One wrong move or gap in the plans and everything that these guys work for would fall like a row of cards. During the movie, I kept thinking of the video in this link.

Plausibility is also hurt in the overabundance of CGI in the magic stunts. I know these guys aren't professional magicians, but at least the screenwriter could have made up practical tricks. The opening stunt is done with a CGI'd machine: while they make sense of it, could the filmmakers not have made a set and device that could actually work in the situation Freeman is detailing? Same with the bubble stunt in the New Orleans sequence. The movie could have been lightyears more impressive (and perhaps less expensive) if practical magic tricks had been done. Also, the screenwriter doesn't seem to understand the art of magic as a whole. He knows a little bit of the illusion of magic, but when he tries to create sequences with some illusions, he uses the concept of that illusion to make sense of things rather than building the sequence on how the illusion is done, making the film less real because of the need of the CGI and makes the writer seem, well, disillusioned. I may not be making the most sense, but when you see it, you'll know what I mean.

Lastly, did we need a love story? Ruffalo and Interpol are supposed to fall in love, but, honestly, I thought it felt forced and really did not work in the film, being used only as a weak distraction. It kind of took away from Ruffalo's character, to be quite honest. I could have done without it, and the film would hardly have changed.

But when it's all said and done, I liked Now You See Me. It was an entertaining ride with more twists than a Shyamalan film, some entertaining dialogue, and clever action sequences, only weighed down by implausibility, yet to be saved by reason. I give Now You See Me gets 3 out of 5 stars. I won't drop another eight bucks to see it again in theaters, but I won't walk away from a sequel.

Morgan Freeman explains a trick. Fortunately, the film does not fall in flames, being an entertaining time at the movies.

In short, if you like chase films, you'll like Now You See Me. It's no Oscar contender, but it's certainly a fun time at the movies to hold you over until The Conjuring or Frozen comes out in the next few months.

What about you? Will you be seeing Now You See Me or will you instead go see Man of Steel or Despicable Me 2? Have you seen Now You See Me, and, if so, what did you think? Do you want more NEW MOVIE reviews? Comment below! I'd love to hear your thoughts.