Real magic is getting high ratings for this waste of film

Rating: 2/10 (1 April 2014)

So sorry I bothered to keep watching after losing interest about a third of the way through. I almost always keep watching bad movies just to see what happens, but after this one, I may change that policy.
First of all, this movie should be categorized as fantasy. It is not a crime story or thriller at all. I went in thinking it was going to be a real heist flick. This was more along the lines of an after school special or a "Shark-nado."
What was with the carousel? "Real" magic? The Illuminati? Yawn. A major cheat for the audience that insults the intelligence. I feel raped. Where did they go and how could they ever show themselves again? The four protagonists would have been arrested and prosecuted after the very first theft. Plenty of evidence and there is no way they would ever get back on a stage. They really get out of a surrounded building? I think not. The old "handcuff swap" in an FBI interrogation room, ah...no. Suspend disbelief? Gladly, I do it all the time, but the story has to be plausible on some level.
Hmmm...what else? Having the magicians be the actual people doing the real French bank/armored car robbery? Why? I would think they would have used real bank robbers - you know, people with experience and expertise at that kind of thing? But that's just me. Might also keep them off radar when the FBI starts checking into passports, alibis and other trivial stuff like that.
Morgan Freeman's case would never be brought to trial as they had much less on him than the other four and besides, the way his car was overflowing with money....would anyone believe he was smart enough and skilled enough to pull this off, but plans to get away with the dough like that? Please. He gets out, fingers Ruffalo, end of story.
Just about everything in this movie was boring and predictable - except the ending which would have been impossible to predict because it was absolutely ridiculous.
I was starting to believe that every single robbery was faked with the original French bank in on it, all of the audience that received money from Michael Caine's account, etc. This would have at least made some sense and been a great twist of misdirection - perhaps aimed at Morgan Freeman, perhaps to fool the FBI, to commit another robbery altogether or simply as as a means to fame.
Near the end, I figured Ruffalo was the mastermind, using previously faked robberies by the magicians to cover the real, final robbery. If the previous robberies were proved fakes, and with no physical evidence for the final heist, it would have been nearly impossible to convict them. Perfect misdirection.
At one point I thought Morgan freeman was the leader, doing these fake robberies to swindle Michael Caine out of the ten million, but it was far too early in the film. Had they waited with that, it would have made the most sense - get Caine all bothered by misdirecting him with fake robberies? They could have temporarily faked the bank computers, so Michael Caine and his bank wouldn't immediately know. Perfect swindle and no real robbery ever gets committed. Hey, I'm not upset that my scenarios were wrong - the movie just sucked. I would have accepted almost anything but the path they chose. Jeeeesh.
This was an interesting premise and although the actors and dialog were obnoxious, I was willing to roll with it and enjoy. Too bad it got so lost on its way to the absurd ending.
I almost always root for the crooks and criminals in movies, but these guys were so damn smug and annoying, I was begging for them to be caught. I would rather root for bad guys who shoot bank tellers than these spoiled brats.
Now You See Me makes Tower Heist look good. Tower Heist isn't so full of itself and its not even half as silly.
Think I'm going to stop trusting the star ratings and start looking for specific, competent reviewers on this site. Far too many bad films with over seven stars.