Fantastic Movie

Rating: 9/10 (4 October 2016)

Now You See Me
Look closely, "the closer you think you are, the less you'll actually see." Part of the opening scene of the fantastic, Now You See Me movie. Magic tricks have been a source of live entertainment for centuries, now they have the chance to do it at the movies. The actors chosen for the role and the plot they were given created an unpredictable two hour, must see film. The movie received multiple awards including the People's Choice Award for favorite thriller movie of the year. Now You See Me has made up the perfect plot. Four street magicians are brought together to create "The Four Horsemen". The plot would be nothing without magic tricks, and the director (Louis Leterrier) knew what made a good magic trick is what you can and cannot see. The camera angles trick you into believing one thing until later on in the movie, when the magicians explain how they fooled the FBI, their audiences, and you. You don't find out why the team is stealing money until much later in the movie, keeping the plot unpredictable, as well as the audience on edge. The plot did its job of pulling the audience in, while on the other hand, it could've been even more enhanced by more thrilling sound effects. One upsetting feature of the film would have to be the soundtrack of the movie. The sound effects do not add much to the excitement of any scene if at all. Even though, the chase scenes still manage to excite the audience and throw them in different directions.
The casting was close to perfect for this movie. Daniel Atlas, the quick witted leader of The Four Horsemen, was played by Jesse Eisenberg. Eisenberg has shown to be very talented at acting out a sarcastic genius in the film. He's shown this quality in some of his other movies like The Social Network, where he plays the creator of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg. The mentalist, Merrit McKinney, who is introduced while shaking down a bad husband, is played by Woody Harrelson. Woody works well with Eisenberg at the sarcastic characters they were given, they make the movie kind of a comedy when they are together. Henley Reeves, the illusionist, is played by Isla Fisher. Isla fits in well with the other actors, saying her lines with a fun attitude while also quick witted toward the other magicians. The last magician, Jack Wilder, is a street magician who uses sleight of hand to pick pockets and break open locks. Dave Franco, who plays Jack, is perfect for the role of a younger magician than the rest of the group. Dave acts shy when meeting the other magicians, who are actually famous, but kind of arrogant when he knows something the older magicians don't. All four actors brought together seemed to work great, the amount of quick comebacks they all throw at each other makes the movie somewhat of a comedy.
At the end of the movie, the big reveal almost throws you out of your seat, not even knowing what just hit you. It would almost help you understand the movie more if you watch it a second time with the knowledge you find out at the end. Magic has entertained audiences for centuries and now it has been brought to the film industry. Now You See Me has set the bar for any other movies about magic tricks pretty high and the sequel will have to top what this movie has done. I would highly recommend going to see this movie whenever you have the chance. When you go to see the movie just remember, "the closer you look, the less you'll see."