Now You See me leaves you disappointed

Rating: 4/10 (11 October 2013)

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS MINOR SPOILERS
Jack Wilder (Dave Franco), one of the most superfluous characters in a long time, is introduced showing a magic trick to some tourists. As someone exposes his trick he stops the show and robs him instead. Now You See Me is just like that: you expect a nice show but it leaves you disappointed instead.
Given the premise of the movie one would expect an interesting plot, but after the first half hour sets the stage the movie develops into a sequence of action scenes and chaotic chases. Too much of the plot is either given away or too predictable to keep the story intriguing at this part, but the action and snappy dialogues are entertaining nevertheless. The problem is you can't fail to notice the focus is too much on the action and not on the characters, which remain superficial and don't show any development during the movie. Even the obligatory love story subplot comes like a plot twist rather than natural character development.
The final conclusion also arrives as a rabbit from a magic hat. Unlike a movie like The Prestige, which gives enough clues to be convincing, the great plot twist in Now You See Me feels just as unlikely at a second viewing. Together with the fact that all mysteries are revealed this unsatisfying ending leaves you with nothing else to think about than how much more this movie could have been.