Now You See Me

My Grade:  A-

In a summer of remakes, sequels, and Tyler Perry movies... finally, an original film that isn’t based off a book, another film, or a board game. And it has a stellar cast to boot?! Of course I had to see it! And I must admit that I was a little let down, but it’s easy to not live up to expectations when they are as high as mine were for Now You See Me.

Twists and turns abound in this heist thriller. But what sets this film apart is the magic. These magicians do the heists through their adept use of the dark art of magic... or so they say. Really they just use slight of hand tactics to perpetuate their crime spree. Complicating the matter further, however, is the fact that they don’t keep any of the money that they steal. They give it all away! Therein lies the thing that is supposed to make the audience (the audiences in the film but also the audience watching the movie) like the Four Horsemen as they’re called. While these actors are all highly charismatic, especially the smooth talking Jesse Eisenberg, the characters they portray aren’t quite paper thin... but close. So it’s easy to like them because of strong casting choices, not great writing.

The film, like its lead characters, tries to perform its own slight of hand by throwing twist after twist at us. We are gradually revealed the reasoning behind their seemingly random crime spree and it’s a believable avenue that these magicians might take. It’s not very believable, though, who’s behind it all and for whom they are working. No spoilers here, but I almost felt like the big reveal would only work if I didn’t second guess it at all but my fiance and I came up with a handful of holes in it just on the ride home.

So, the major twist could have been better but the other little twists are done very well and then are aptly explained in such a way that the audience has a collective “oh I see” moment. It’s just disappointing when the buildup is so good then the climactic twist ending isn’t.  Oh, well... they tried.

Apart from those issues, this is a highly entertaining film. You have to let it do what it’s supposed to do... namely take you for a magical, high octane ride without much questioning. But if you do that, you will thoroughly enjoy the film. It’s at least worth it to see the stellar cast put their charisma and strong personalities on display while working very well together.

Overall, the characters are a bit thin and some of the twists are too unbelievable even for a movie about magicians, but it’s an entertaining two hour thrill ride. It’s also a refreshing change of pace since four of the top five movies in the country are sequels (Iron Man 3, The Hangover III, Fast & Furious 6, Star Trek Into Darkness) and the sixth is based off a book which has now been brought to life twice in film. So, instead of seeing Will and Jaden Smith preach to you about Scientology in After Earth, go see Now You See Me.