Movie Review: Now You See Me

Overall

Trey: 3.8 out of 5

Though better than I was expecting, lack of character development and the use of magic tricks as plot convenience or even holes held down the possibility of a good movie being great. The cast while extremely likable lacked any emotional ties and one twist near the end felt a bit far fetched. Otherwise the movie is immensely entertaining and a good summer movie that anyone can enjoy.

Suzanne: 4 out of 5

This movie was better than I expected after all of the negativity it got on Rotten Tomatoes. I thought they incorporated magic into the movie really well and it kept me wanting more. Unlike Trey, I quite enjoyed the cast although they needed to be developed way more than they were. But entertainment wise a great movie for all ages and a very enjoyable one at that.

Synopsis

When 4 magicians with different skill sets are banned together to do unthinkable heist, 2 cops must figure out how they pulled off a series of financial thefts that landed the bank accounts and wallets of the people in their audience. These magicians call themselves The Four Horsemen (Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco and Woody Harrelson) and there goal is to set the wrongs in the world right. They do this in the form of stealing money from banks or people and giving it to the people they feel deserve it. This draws the attention of the CIA in the form of Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) and his new assistant from Paris Alma Dray (Melanie Laurent). Is all this magic real? or can the CIA with the help of a magician debunker Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman) crack the code.

Visuals

Trey: Nothing special in this one but nothing terrible either. There is some shaky came that hurt my head a bit, but overall solid cinematography. The special effects were limited and worked well when they were utilized.

Suzanne:  There weren't as many special effects in this movie as I thought there would be. In the trailer it seemed that, that was all it was going to be but it really was limited like Trey said. I thought they were pretty spectacular though overall. I was very glad that they didn't over do it with special effects they kept it at the perfect number in my opinion.


Audio and Score

Trey: I really enjoyed this score actually, it was very uptempo heist music. They mixed in a couple songs that some people may recognize and the classic heist feel was very enjoyable.

Suzanne: I have realized that for me I don't notice music as much as I should. When I did notice it I thought it worked really well with the movie. It was typical heist music that made your heart beat faster and get excited for the chase scene that was happening at the time.


Acting

Trey: The actors each played their roles very well, and gave a pretty straight forward script a big lift. Harrelson and Freeman were my favorite, each brought some good timed comedy and a coolness to their characters. I really have no complaints in this category but nobody was blowing me away with their performances. That is probably because there was no emotion, the movie was meant to just be a fun heist movie and it did that.

Suzanne: I thought the actors did a great job with the roles of bank robbing magicians. I thought it was very funny when it needed to be and serious when it needed to be. The only issue I had was that at the end of the movie I didn't know any of the characters names, I only knew them as the Four Horsemen because their characters were not developed nearly enough. Other than that I think all of the actors did a great job with the little amount they were given about their characters.

Story

Trey: When a movie is about magic and trickery the writing and story is the front focus. With magic you always seen it used as Deux Ex Machina and this film is no different. They use magic or tricks to advance the plot even if it's not logical, it is logical if you feel the magic was real in the film. The first half of the film was very tight and compact, once the reveal came and the movie started to reveal itself it became a bit flat. There was a relationship thrown in at the end and the explanation behind why these magicians came together felt very forced to me. The final twist of the film however is where I felt the most against. Like my overall stated it seemed too far fetched even in a movie where magic was possibly present. I however don't believe any of the magic was real but that is another topic for discussion. The story was enjoyable though and there was one scene involving Ruffalo and Franco that was exactly what I envisioned a year ago when I read about this film. It was easily the best film in the movie.

Suzanne: The story in this movie worked really well for me. I loved the idea of four magicians who don't really know each other coming together to become one awesome act. And to top it off they are all pulling a heist together. To me the magic seemed real in the film and I think it was supposed to make you believe in magic. I thought they did a really good job talking about how magicians always try to divert your attention from the real trick and that was what they were doing the entire time. Overall the story was awesome in my opinion and that is really why I loved this movie so much.