Review: Now You See Me

Review: Now You See Me
*Spoilers Alert
  Do NOT forget to rate this post when you finish.

Official 'Now You See Me' Poster.

      Depicted as the underdog movie of 2013, 'Now You See Me' definitely pleasantly surprises many with being an effective movie that has pretty much enough to be an entertaining movie.

"Dave Franco", "Isla Fisher",
"Woody Harrelson" and
"Jesse Eisenberg".

"Melanie Laurent" and
"Mark Ruffalo".

      One year ago, four gifted magicians 'J. Daniell Atlas'(Jesse Eisenberg) an arrogant street magician, 'Merritt McKinney'(Woody Harrelson) a mentalist, 'Henley Reeves'(Isla Fisher) an escaper, and 'Jack Wilder'(Dave Franco) a rookie street magician, are all joined together by a mysterious benefactor to perform a huge act that is bigger than anybody else. After the 'Four Horsemen' perform a bank heist as their act in Las Vegas, FBI agent 'Dylan Rhodes'(Mark Ruffalo) and Interpol agent 'Alma Dray'(Melanie Laurent) are hot on their trail and attempt to find evidence of their crime acts by following them in order to mask them. This journey is sure to be filled with tricks and acts that will fool you if you get too close. Other characters include 'Thaddeus Bradley'(Morgan Freeman) an ex-magician who makes money by revealing other magician's tricks and ‘Arthur Tressler’ (Michael Caine) a wealthy insurance magnate who sponsors the 'Four Horsemen'.

"Morgan Freeman".

"Jesse Eisenberg", "Woody Harelson",
and "Isla Fisher".

      At first when the posters and trailers were starting to be released, the movie caught my eye due to the number of famous and talented actors that were involved, and due to the trailers that showed an interesting premise. The main reason why this film was able to be a success in the midst of a summer movie blockbuster season is that it was one of the few movies that were an entertaining movie with a new and original idea of magic used as a tool for art as well as manipulation. Many people were excited about a movie talking about magicians, but having a great story and twists that were able to be maintained in this summer movie and allow audiences to actually enjoy it and encouraging others to watch it. Overall the story is compelling and good, but the main problem with this movie is the one dimension of so many characters and the lack of great suspense that a movie like this should have in order to truly engage the audience, thus not being able to make a big statement.

"Michael Caine".

"Dave Franco", "Jesse Eisenberg",
and "Isla FIsher".

      "Louis Leterrier”, the director of this movie who is known for directing 'The Incredible Hulk' and 'Clash of the Titans', in my opinion does a good job to convey the whole fascination and magic that we were supposed to see. Furthermore, he allowed this movie to remain stable; however, his attempts to highlight the underlying emotion of the whole story failed. Though I don't think this was his fault as much as it was the fault of the writers. That said, "Ed Solomon"('Men in Black'), "Boaz Yakin"('Prince of Persia), and newcomer "Edward Ricourt" did a solid job with the script in regards to the overall plot, twists and lines. Yet the story lacked good character development, which hurts the movie. The effects were really exciting to watch and I was glad that CGI was used in a minimal way. Composer "Brian Tyler”, who already scored this year’s biggest movies 'Iron Man 3', did a good job enhancing the suspense and excitement that the movie tried to give to the audience.

"Mark Ruffalo" and
"Morgan Freeman".

"Jesse Eisenberg", "Isla Fisher",
"Woody Harrelson",
and "Dave Franco".

      The overall tone of the movie was a great combination of seriousness mixed with great comedy, which was included in a very funny way. The beginning of the movie was clever. I liked the way they introduced us to the 'Four Horsemen' without getting into details. However, after that they failed to capitalize on what was brought since their development emotionally, and the reason for that was that the reason of their actions was panned out in a very direct manner, when the writers could have done in a more mysterious yet clear and clever manner. After that the movie moved at very good pace in my opinion. The 3 main magic tricks were great, but my favorite was the first one. The only action scene was that of the car chase, which I really enjoyed and proves that an enjoyable movie doesn’t necessarily need to be full of action from beginning to end. The confrontation and revelation scene in the end was shocking to be honest, since I wasn't expecting the other person to be behind the whole operation. While main points were resolved at the end, still there were still unresolved points that needed to be addressed. But a spokesperson did acknowledge them and said that they were left on purpose for the sequel.

"Morgan Freeman" and
"Melanie Laurent".

"Michael Caine", "Isla Fisher",
"Dave Feanco" and
"Woody Harrelson".

      The cast was full of talented actors and actresses, unfortunately the characters weren't engaging as they could have been. Let's start with the supposedly protagonists of the story who were portrayed by "Mark Ruffalo" and "Melanie Laurent", who had exceptional yet weird good chemistry. In fact these were the two characters that in fact had some baggage with their characters. I am glad that "Ruffalo" was part of a summer movie where he was able to show his talents. He brought a new layer to his character which was felt. "Laurent" as many other characters wasn't successful in bringing her character more life due to the lack of dimension in her character. Same could be said to "Jesse Eisenberg", "Woody Harrelson", "Isla Fisher", and “Dave Franco", whose characters were one dimensional and were not as engaging as I was hoping they were going to be. But each actor did indeed try to bring his character to life with the help of their talent. Shame since there were many things that the writers could have taken advantage of. Yet the beginning stint of the movie kind of makes it enough to like the characters. "Morgan Freeman" and "Michael Caine" as usual did a good job giving life to their character, even though they had underdeveloped characters. 

      With all the negatives of the movie, 'Now You See Me' still manages to be a great fresh of air in the midst of many blockbuster movies. And hopefully the problems will be resolved in the planned sequel, and that fresh ideas will be brought to the table.

'Now You See Me'.

-'Now You See Me' Info:
-Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harelson,  Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, Melanie Laurent, Morgan Freeman, and Michael Caine.
-Studio(s): K/O Paper Product and Summit Entertainment.
-Directed by: Louis Leterrier.
-Screenplay by: Ed Solomon, Boaz Yakin, and Edward Ricourt.
-Music by: Brian Tyler.
-Running Time: 115 minutes.
-Budget: $ 75,000,000.
-Box Office: -Domestic(US): $ 117,723,989.
                      -Foreign: $ 234,000,000.
-Ratings: -IMdb: 7.4/10.
                -Rotten Tomatoes: 49%.
                -Metacritic: 50%.

                -PERSONAL RATING: 7.7/10.

-'Now You See Me' Trailer: