Now You See Me - I maghi del crimine

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.

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.

Now You See Me is a very entertaining movie, the cast is excellent, Jesse Eisenberg is very well, Mark Ruffalo for me is the best actor of the film, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, Melanie Laurent, Morgam Freeman, Michael Caine and etc., everyone is well, the direction of the film is good, most have some problems, I found the badly explained film, and the Plot Twist the film is somewhat predictable, has great moments in the film, the visual effects are good, the script even a little poorly explained, can sustain the film, the soundtrack is cool, plus the film loses some strength in the end, get well, more will lose some quality in the course of the movie, Now You See Me is a movie cool and fun, is a good pass time. Note 7.1

This is an interesting concept, surely not a genre played out much in Hollywood. The cast is jam packed with all stars giving great (but not their best) performances. The missing piece of the puzzle? Character development.

That's not to say that there is any lack of interesting characters, each of the four horsemen bring a very unique style to the movie (besides Henley, she's rather weak as a character), and the sheer amount of Talent present in each scene guarantees that you'll be entertained.

10/10? Hardly. But definitely a solid 8 for me. Entertaining, fun, and definitely a concept worth exploring on the big screen. Just remember, the closer you look, the less you'll actually see.

"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.)