Now You See Me

Do you believe in magic? While this may look like the premise of the new movie Now You See Me, it is actually much more of a heist movie. The film follows four magicians who appear to be robbing backs as part of the show. The magicians try to remain one step ahead of the FBI.

I love heist movies. It's one of my favorite genres of film. Now You See Me had many of the elements of a classic heist movie. The four magicians are following orders on how to carry out the heist. I was constantly looking for clues as to whom was behind the big act. I have to admit, I was completely thrown off by the ending. Looking back, I can only think of one clue that hinted at the mastermind of the mission.

This film was very well cast. Jesse Eisenberg played the cocky leader of the group, J. Daniel Atlas. It wasn't a far stretch from his portrayal of Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg; yet, I didn't feel like he was just playing the same character again. Woody Harrelson played a forgotten mentalist, Merritt McKinney, trying to get back on the magic scene. Isla Fisher is Henley Reeves, the former assistant to Dan turned headlining magician. She returned to working with Dan for the big show. Rounding out the main cast is relative new comer, Dave Franco as Jack Wilder. He was great in the film and pulled off some tricky, magical fighting scenes. The four had a great dynamic as a group act.

The film also stared Morgan Freeman as Thaddeus Bradley, a former magician that reveals how magicians do their tricks. Michael Caine is the Las Vegas businessman, Arthur Tressler, that bankrolls the group and Mark Ruffalo is the FBI agent, Dylan Rhodes, trying to stop them. French actress Melanie Laurent plays Alma Dray, an Interpol agent also working the case. These seasoned actors brought so much to the film.

One thing I have to say is that the film did get a little cheesy at points. The underlying reason the magicians are pulling off great heists is to be initiated into a magical order of the eye. While the group did need some form of motivation, I felt this was a rather dumb way to do it. It made for a lackluster ending after a good film.

The dialogue was great but there were some pointless subplots thrown into the story. Alma Dray was very interested in the history of magic.While this later becomes important to the story it was not written into the story well. Rhodes had a small romance with his Interpol counterpart, Dray. This did nothing to drive the plot of the film, which mostly was a great story.

I would recommend this film. Now You See Me is directed by Louis Leterrier and written by Ed Solomon and Boaz Yakin. It was great entertainment and really dazzled the audience. It was very well acted. I was very surprised by the outcome and it was cool to see some magic tricks broken down on the big screen.  This is definitely a good summer film!