Now You See Me

Rating: 5/10 (10 January 2015)

Slick Hollywood entertainment doesn't do a hell of a lot with its cast members that portray the magicians (Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, and Dave Franco), but it allows for some wowser, jawdroppingly meticulous, pull-the-wool-over-the-eyes stunts that make asses out of the FBI, an insurance company's filthy rich CEO (Matthew Caine), and even a "magic debunk media specialist" (Morgan Freeman), all with massive egos that get deflated. Mark Ruffalo does disheveled, downtrodden, down-on-his-luck characters especially well, here portraying a FBI agent in need of a break as it seems the magicians are always pulling a fast one over him. His French Interpol agent partner, played by Mélanie Laurent (fabulous actress from QT's Inglorious Basterds), seems to know a lot about magic and could be another part of the "grand design". This is one of those films with a twist that is most certain to leave a "you gotta be kidding me" feeling. It is a hard pill to swallow. The film, as explained throughout by Freeman, allows us to see how our magicians orchestrate the theft of large sums of money and how they are used to help those in need or to just as punishment for a specific reason determined later. Freeman's gloating at the expense of the agents trying to catch the magicians and later looking at a face behind a jail cell is rather fitting for such a condescending geniusseeing himself duped has a poetic justice to it. Eisenberg, Harrelson, Fisher, and Franco are often devices instead of characters fully fleshed, besides a few moments of repartee and traded pokes at each other, which is a shame because they are all strong talents in need of a better film. This instead is all about a screenplay that wants to amaze through its elaborate plot using "misdirection" than truly developing characters we care about. Caine's CEO losing money on stage with the very magicians he is managing has quite a bit of amusing irony. Could all of this really happen? It's beautifully designed rubbish for our enjoyment. Turn the brain off, folks.