I liked it, but still disappointing

Rating: 6/10 (22 July 2013)

So the idea of this movie had a lot of potential, and in some ways it exceeded my expectations. There were a lot of things that could easily be done poorly with this idea, and they did a good job in those areas, and that was surprising. However the general story was not done very well, and I'm not sure why. I still give the film a pretty decent rating because it was entertaining and did well with the magic, atmosphere, and payoff, but focus and the characters were off.
Don't read if you don't want spoilers.
To sum it up- what was done well was really good. The magic shows were pretty awesome. They were suspenseful, they seemed almost believable, they left you thinking about their tricks, and when they were explained, it was well thought out and interesting. The general ideas of the characters were pretty good, it's hard to really dislike any of them. The side characters and antagonists are especially likable. And the end reveal was cool. It's unexpected, it makes sense when you think about it, and complicated plans are sometimes good just because you have to think a little more. And none of the motivations were too expected or cliché, which I like in a story.
But that said, it has too many flaws to be considered anything better than good. It is not a great movie, it is only slightly better than mediocre. Here's, in my opinion, why: First, the focus was not a great idea. The focus should have been on the horsemen (it wasn't at all)rather than the agents trying to catch them. They are following someone they don't know at all, they haven't even met him, for reasons they are not sure of. They do not even know if their end goal exists, and at any time they could ruin their whole lives because of the scheme. Yet they continue to follow the plan. This would be interesting to follow, what is going through their minds through everything, how much do they trust it, how are they setting everything up. But that is pretty much ignored, instead a stereotypical romance between the agents is the main subplot other than them trying to stop the horsemen. And it was okay, but it was nothing special.
The reveal, while I thought was a good surprise, the way it was executed wasn't great. The first half of the movie didn't really hint to it at all, you don't even know most of the story behind it. The whole thing (which was complicated) was explained in about 30 seconds. God forbid you had to go to the bathroom, you would be lost if you missed it. There was not enough set up for it. And the end was lame. We find out Rhodes is the leader and his motive, which was fine. But then his entire romance and relationship with the other agent was still pursued. Everything he said to her was a lie, as was his entire personality he made up, but in the end they're still in love without a second thought and he's going to make serious sacrifices for that? NO, just no. Which is also why the focus didn't hold up, because it was mostly pointless once you find this out. And plus, the ones who seemed like they should have been the main characters, the horsemen, are just dumped. Yeah, they get into the organization Rhodes leads, but then what? Nothing about what they do next is explained. Does this organization do anything or did they ruin their life for revenge that is irrelevant to them? Are there other members and if not will there be? This is all made unimportant, and the end just follows the shallow romance. Which is done in just about every movie, so not only is it dumb, but it's incredibly bland and typical. They didn't even try to set up for a sequel, they just ignored the magicians.
Oh, and this is probably just nitpicking, but there was a lot of unnecessary and distracting use of cgi. It just wasn't needed, and it didn't look very good. People could have easily done the majority of those effects for real rather than using computers.
I did like this movie. However it could have been so much better that in the end it feels hollow. The premise was good, the story throughout and plans were good, the characters were good, and they didn't use it to its potential at all. All movies have flaws, but these ones were too big to be able to love the film. It's fun to watch, I guess it's worth it, but I wish it had been better.