Now You See Me Review (1 Viewer)

I'm thinking of seeing this film on Sunday afternoon. The only thing I want to know is whether it was entertaining?

It wasn't bad, kinda fun, very surface-y characterizations (the four horsemen are engaging enough), a script built upon the beats on performing magic to drive its plot. Worth a matinee viewing.

I gave it 2.75 stars, or a grade of B-.

I actually really enjoyed Now You See Me. What Patrick says is true: the movie is sorely lacking character development, but I didn't think about that until after leaving the theater. It's engaging and just plain fun (at least for me). The magic tricks are cool to watch, the movie doesn't drag and I liked all the actors. It didn't make me mad like Star Trek Into Darkness or go on too long like Iron Man 3. I'd go a little higher to a B+.

Melanie Laurent has lovely eyes.

A fun movie and the audience seem to enjoy it too.

Patrick Sun said:

Melanie Laurent has lovely eyes.

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Yes, she does. She looked beautiful in her last scenes of the movie.

Loved this movie. Probably the most fun I've had at the movies this year. I love heist/caper films and the magic elements were great (as I also love magic-themed films like "The Prestige").

I'm not sure what everyone is looking for as far as character development. I don't feel like there was anything else I needed to know about these characters to enjoy the story. This was pretty much just "a year in the life" of these characters. Lots of exposition and backstory would have just made the film slower and longer. As is, it was exciting and thrilling.

I'd also grade this B+/A-.

I hated this one. I guessed the reveal in the first 20 minutes, the magic tricks were so outlandishly impossible they practically had me rolling my eyes into a coma. The four magicians were unlikable, smug pricks, and the movie barely made any sense. Only Ruffalo and Laurent where decent, and they were saddled by writing that makes Star Wars 2: Attack of the Clones look like Bernard Shaw. 1.5/5, I'm still irritated and annoyed by it. The only plus I have for this movie is that I saw it for free. If I dumped money down on it I'd REALLY be upset!

Great first act, good second act, meh third act. I still enjoyed it overall, but it does lose steam as it goes, largely because it largely abandons the main characters and becomes about Ruffalo. I know this makes sense in story terms, but without the Horsemen, the energy level decreases a lot.

Still, it's entertaining. The actors all look like they had a blast, and that carries over to the movie's fun level.

The constantly spinning camera got old, though. Actually, I think its use decreases as the movie goes, but it was overwhelming at the start!

I could not find a thread for this so if one exists apologies in advance:
Now You See Me

This was an unexpected gift.

A combo heist/revenge/magic illusion movie with a great cast: Mark Ruffalo, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, and Isla Fisher.

My wife and I saw this free as part of one of the Cineplex Scene promotions and turned out to be an excellent surprise. We both love magic and the premise of the movie is based on it. Of course with the cinematic trickery available today the line between it and sleight of hand is even more blurred. So a bit of buy in is needed to accept that certain tricks would not be possible in a live show. With that in mind this is a fun story that explores the concept that real magic does exist. Something that most of the characters in the film are searching for, especially the magicians. Which is great since they know the tricks behind the supposed magic they are practitioners of.

This is a fun romp with the actors obviously having a lot of fun with their roles and each other. The story is well written with many twists and turns and moments of triumph, comeuppance, and for certain characters - unexpected payoffs.

The pleasant surprise of the movie was Mark Ruffalo, an actor that's been around for awhile and made a big splash as Bruce Banner/Hulk in Avengers. In Avengers, Ruffalo demonstrated his ability to create an empathetic character with limited screen time. He pulls off that same trick in this flick but with a much more complicated arc; starting with a character that cliche strictures dictate will be the antagonist. His character of FBI agent Dylan Rhodes is the cop in pursuit of the Four Horseman - the illusionists who are using their shows to pull off big scale heists.

The first heist, in which a man is seemingly transported from the US to the inside of a Paris bank vault from where the money makes the reverse journey to be dispersed to the crowd is the coolest one. Especially when Magician Buster Morgan Freeman shows Rhodes how it was done.

A movie we probably never would have seen if not for the promo that allowed us to see it for free. A very pleasant surprise.

Lou Sytsma said:

The pleasant surprise of the movie was Mark Ruffalo, an actor that's been around for awhile and made a big splash as Bruce Banner/Hulk in Avengers. In Avengers, Ruffalo demonstrated his ability to create an empathetic character with limited screen time. He pulls off that same trick in this flick but with a much more complicated arc; starting with a character that cliche strictures dictate will be the antagonist. His character of FBI agent Dylan Rhodes is the cop in pursuit of the Four Horseman - the illusionists who are using their shows to pull off big scale heists.

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If Mark Ruffalo hadn't been cast as the FBI agent, I'm not sure I would have guessed who was behind it all. But Ruffalo has made a character of playing complex, multi-layered characters. Even in a big-budget blockbuster like The Avengers, he brings nuance and something unexpected to the table. But in a movie full of smart characters, Rhodes was both written and acted as a cliched, testosterone-driven moron. Nothing about the character seemed like something that would interest Ruffalo, and he didn't seem to be making an effort to introduce anything deeper than the surface caricature.

So then you ask yourself: why would Ruffalo take the role? There has to be something more going on here. And then when he had the throwaway line about being a difficult person to read so he was going to make himself very clear, that sealed it.

Perhaps we should use spoiler tags for movies that have only been on disc for a week.