Now You See Me is directed by Louis Leterrier who has directed The Incredible Hulk and the Clash of the Titans remake. So this film could go either way just by that fact alone.
It revolves around a group of four magicians played by Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Woody Harrelson and Dave Franco. They were all called by an unknown source to pull off these seemingly impossible heists like robbing a French bank from halfway across the world using their illusions. The group becomes known as The Four Horsemen. They grab the attention of the authorities and they plan to stop them from committing any more crimes.
The biggest issue the film suffers from is the plot. It not only is confusing and convoluted but also completely preposterous! I am usually overly kind when it comes to movies like this that have no believability whatsoever. I blame that on my love of action movies like Con Air, but in Now You See Me, I kept saying to myself,
"I know it's a movie about magic but seriously...... what!?!?"
There are plenty of moments like that throughout the film. And by the time the film ends and things are finally explained, I was too confused and I just didn't care at that point. The ending is also completely unsatisfying with very little payoff. It just kind of cuts off leaving the audience just hanging there.
Those are some pretty big issues. Surely the film isn't a complete train wreck? And luckily it isn't.
The film does have a great cast full of very talented actors that I enjoy. I though that Mark Ruffalo gave a standout performance as an FBI agent who kind of goes insane trying to stop the Four Horseman. I also enjoyed the magicians. Jesse Eisenberg and Isla Fisher were fun to watch and Woody Harrelson as usual steals every scene he's in. The only actor I felt kind of bad for was Dave Franco, mostly because he had absolutely nothing to do. He had a pretty cool fight scene with Mark Ruffalo near the end but his character just really felt like filler. Which is a shame because I didn't mind Dave Franco! His performance wasn't terrible or even really that bad, it's just that he felt like Black Widow in The Avengers: If you cut that one character out, the film wouldn't have been any different.
As I previously mentioned before, there is an entertaining fight sequence that later evolves into a decent car chase. The visuals as a whole are pretty decent, but what I ended up enjoying the most was, oddly enough, the magic! It kind of made me feel like a kid again by reigniting my fascination with magic and how cool it is to see someone suspend what you think to be real right before your eyes. Come to think of it, magic is kind of a precursor to films because when you really get down to it both activities serve the same purpose: To entertain audiences by suspending their disbelief even if some members of the crowd can see the smoke and mirrors.
Final Report: Now You See Me isn't really good, but it isn't really that bad either. It's the type of movie that you would watch as an in-flight movie on a plane. It's forgettable yet entertaining.
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