Not Exactly What You Think It Is

Rating: 5/10 (31 October 2013)

I give this 5/10 (Okay but not great) for the humor and visual effects. If you like flashy CGI, lights, and effects then you might like this movie. If you are like me and watch a movie for the plot, story, character, and creativity you'll be disappointed. Simply, this an "illusionist" type movie. Dealing with "magic" and "illusions" is a very tricky business. Mainly because we all know that it is not real magic... or not supposed to be. Everything HAS to be possible and explained at some point in the movie for it to be brilliant and creative. Sadly it isn't true in this movie. Many times I shake my head at how shallow the explanations were (for the sake of explaining) for how some things worked. Keep in mind that no one has real magic, only "illusions" supposedly. Some examples: Woody can literally control people. Snap a finger and make people remember/forget/believe what he wants. Snap them to sleep, snap again to awaken. He made a group of people tackle Mark. Made an important man stand there playing "air" violin while they stole money in front of him. Read a husbands personal life, muted his wife, made her unable to walk, then made BOTH the husband and wife forget things, then made the wife able to speak/walk again for some easy money... if this isn't real magic I don't know what is. Because Woody has this "ability" it made the whole movie possible. Nonsense.
Mark Ruffallo turns out to be this "secret man" in the end after spending time acting like an idiot through the whole movie trying to catch the "bad guys" when he's the one who planned everything. Falls in love randomly with his partner for no reason. They're only in a few scenes together and not any of them were personal/touchy in any way.
No one understands the four horseman and where they came from, how and why they got into or chose to be a magician in the first place. Why they decide to follow through with magic acts planned out by some random person they've never met. No character development at all.
How they made a speech near the end of the movie on a rooftop, then run and jump and become money in thin air...
All of these things would be mind blowing if there was an explanation. The movie itself calls everything "an illusion." Failing to explain all these random and super convenient phenomenon just so the movie can happen makes it that much less of a quality movie. This would be a great movie if it was Harry Potter or a magical fairy tale movie. But it isn't. It is a movie about real magicians without real magic doing magical things...