Die Unfassbaren - Now You See Me

"Now You See Me" (2013) is a tremendously fun film starring Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, Morgan Freeman, and Michael Caine.

Four magicians (Eisenberg, Harrelson, Fisher, and Franco) are invited to an address. Inside, they encounter a few tricks. A year later, these four have become The Four Horsemen and are doing a show in Las Vegas. They end the first performance that we see with a bank robbery that doesn't look like an illusion.

The FBI gets right on it and sends in an agent, Dylan Rhodes (Ruffalo) and Interpol sends one as well, Melanie Laurent (Alma Dray). Rhodes is arrogant and thinks figuring out how these four did it is going to be easy, but it isn't, even with the help of a big-time illusionist exposer (Freeman). Of course, that robbery isn't going to be their last as the agents become more and more frustrated.

Be ready for the twists and turns, distractions, and sleight of hand. Nothing is as it seems.

Highly entertaining film, with good performances from the young cast, working alongside two major pros, Caine and Freeman. I know the film is preposterous but so are a lot of plots. When a film is well done, I say just relax and go along with it. I'm always amazed at how people review a film like this as if it's Citizen Kane. My advice: If you want reality, don't watch movies.

Overall a showman of a film. Flashy, loud with bells and whistles and big personalities, an exciting premise... illusionists rob banks using (supposed) magic but the four horsemen are just puppets in a game, but the hype is more than the substance of the film itself.

You'd expect suspense, twists, intelligent plot misdirection and all sorts of thrilling viewing? No. This film tries to be a lot more intelligent than it actually is. Like Atlas (Eisenberg) says, "Always be the most intelligent person in the room" or something similar, this film thinks it is being intelligent but actually it's not challenging enough. It gives too much away, isn't as unpredictable as it should be (really, you couldn't see that ending coming?) and just isn't as clever as it promises. The tricks I really wanted explaining weren't... the ones that were more obvious, were explained. The ending actually isn't a denouement, as it's been laying clues all along - and anyone who's seen a lot of films can see the "twists" coming a mile away. I focus on the twists and reveal because as a heist movie, the end is the big reveal. But, unlike Oceans Eleven, for example, it has more or less handed it to you on a plate already.

The actors were good. Morgan Freeman and Woody Harrelson stealing the show, of course, with Dave Franco doing a bang up job with some incredible physical acting, stunts and so forth. I'm afraid Jesse Eisenberg didn't convince in his character and was annoying after a while, Franco rather underutilised really. Isla Fisher was good but clearly the "glamour" rather than a serious character, which was a shame as she was good.

This was supposed to be a big blockbuster film, big back drops, epic stunts and huge crowd scenes, but it failed to deliver. As heist/magic genre films go it's not that great, and The Prestige was far more cerebral and gripping. Entertaining to a point but I got a bit bored, and some of the scenes were too long - chases etc. If you are a fan of heist films or magic you'll enjoy it, or are a fan of particular actors, or will just enjoy it for what it is and don't want to be challenged intellectually, it's a great film. I think Hollywood endings are just too commonplace. 6/10 for me.

"Now You See Me" came out of nowhere and became the sleeper hit of 2013, getting good word of mouth during its theatrical run. Having seen the movie for myself, I am kind of puzzled by its popularity. Certainly, the movie is far from the worst movies I have ever seen - it's colorful, and doesn't have a dead spot despite running almost two hours long.

But there were some things about the movie that annoyed me enough to prevent me from liking it. The biggest problem is with the characters. Except for Freeman's character, there is not one likable character in the movie. The law enforcement agents investigating the magicians are loud and obnoxious, and the four magicians come across as extremely smug. (Also, there is no attempt to give the magicians real and separate personalities - they all act alike.)

The characters were the main reason why I didn't like this movie, but there were other problems as well. One other major annoyance is the depiction of the magic acts. They have been jazzed up with CGI and other special effects so they don't feel like REAL magic acts - they come across as artificial. Also, as the movie progresses, the various feats the magicians pull off slowly become more unbelievable (and not fully explained) that eventually I wanted to cry out loud, "Oh, COME ON!" Less slight of hand and a more realistic approach would have been a much better approach.

(Note to Michael Caine fans: His role is really just an extended cameo appearance.)

This is one of those movies that is somewhat entertaining upon first viewing but is easily forgettable and has nothing of substance to make a second viewing possible to enjoy. The plot is convoluted as we don't know what the main characters are doing or why. In fact, everything we know about the 4 magicians is revealed in the first 10 minutes of the movie and after that there is ZERO character development! The entire movie appears to have been made solely for the sake of the ending and yet it was so cliché that I was actually a little angry about the way they did it. It's unfortunate that in the filmmaker's attempts to be clever they neglected the most fundamental elements of storytelling: plot and character.

Like a magic show without magic, you may find yourself somewhat entertained but inevitably wind up disappointed in the end because they left out the most important part of the show.

There are a lot of reviews already for this movie, so it is unlikely anyone will read mine. But I feel like I have to weigh in on this movie.

This is the most fun I've had watching a flick in a very, very long time. This movie is a riot! It isn't quite as clever as it thinks it is. Most of the surprises weren't terribly surprising; off the top of my head I can identify at least three that I saw coming. But I don't care.

It was fun! It was funny and engaging and I found myself simultaneously rooting for both sides. There is no shortage of action, the dialogue is peppy, and - unlike almost everything else I've watched lately - it's never boring.

Do yourself a favor and don't analyze. Just sit back and enjoy the ride. Movies don't have to be life-altering.