Now you see me...but I wish I hadn't

Rating: 4/10 (8 June 2013)

I remember seeing the trailers for this and I thought it really looked great. Reading some of the reviews on here, many of them "claim" that people with a low IQ dislike the film. Well, I don't mean to toot my own horn but I don't think I'm a stupid individual and I've seen thousands of movies...more than your average joe because I love movies. However, this was a stone cold dud. Decent cast, some real twists and turns but a blatantly complicated plot line that makes little sense and tries way too hard just to be complex. A truly smart film can be smart and tricky without trying SO hard. Now You See Me just throws in all kinds of tricks and twists without any build up or thinking about whether or not it makes sense. It was a very interesting experience when the big final twist of the movie was revealed and everyone in the theatre I was in gasped and then that was immediately followed by many people whispering "That's dumb," "That doesn't make sense." They are exactly right. The big twist has no groundwork laid for it and makes no sense at all but by that time you are so completely lost in the silly story that you won't care that it doesn't make sense.
The cast certainly is not the issue for this film. The cast is actually pretty good. I'm just surprised they actually signed on to this but then again it is making okay money at the box office. I didn't much care for Jesse Eisenberg's character. That's not to say he didn't do a good job, I just didn't like him much. His character is smug and egotistical but fits the role nicely and carries the cast well. I thought Woody Harrelson was excellent in his role as a mentalist that can hypnotize. He was probably my favourite character and yet there wasn't a lot done with him which is unfortunate. Isla Fisher and Dave Franco I lump together because while they were good they were mostly underused and sort of the sidekicks to Eisenberg and Harrelson most of the time. I think if I was making a film like this I would ensure the four of them share an equal amount of screen time and have strong characters. But they do well. Mark Ruffalo is the FBI agent trying to get to the bottom of the group of thieves. Ruffalo is good, shows lots of intensity and the appropriate amount of angst for cop vs robbers. Unfortunately for her I thought Mélanie Laurent was very near pointless. I suppose she was there to give the audience yet another possible suspect, and also to give Ruffalo a romance but both those angles were completely unnecessary and her monotone line delivery was enough to put you to sleep. Finally, we have two legends Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine. The best scenes in this movie easily are the ones with just the two of them on screen because their chemistry and on screen charisma is enough to carry any scene. However they are definitely blatantly used for their name power and the weak script does nothing for them.
Given director Louis Leterrier is a talented director, I'm surprised at really how bad the film was shot. Were there some nicely shot scenes? Yes there was but few and far between. I have actually seen all of Leterrier's films and this was by far the worst of them. I will give props to them in the opening scene when they play a magic trick that actually worked on me...they picked the car that I picked...I wonder if it works on everyone? After that the film falls into a complex web of lies and deceit and completely silly twists and turns that make little to no sense. Perhaps there are two many hands in the pot. There are no less than five screenwriters and story artists on the film. Its hard enough to find two writers that can jive and work together let alone five. Basically, Now You See Me was a huge disappointment for me. In a summer of blockbusters you need something better than this. 4/10