magic fun

Rating: 7/10 (13 August 2017)

I have somehow missed 'Now You See Me', a very entertaining movie directed by Louis Leterrier when it was released four years ago. Luckily, it's one of those movies that do not lose their appeal that fast, and then it's summer time, so the right time for fun and entertaining films. The only detail that seems overcome by time in this film is the usage of phones phones with geo-positioning systems.As smartphones took over the market, and applications as Google Maps became ubiquitous, the cops using keyboard based not-so-smart mobile phones seems to have happened twenty and not four years back. It's kind of a lesson for film-makers which may find more and more difficult coping with the pace of progress of our smart gadgets. Maybe the sequel avoids this mistake.
'Now You See Me' combines two genres - the big robbery and the magicians movies, with more emphasize on the later. 'The closer you look, the less you see' is the key saying of the film which tells the story of four magicians with different specializations brought together in a team that combines huge magician shows a la David Copperfield with bank robberies. They are supported by a finance tycoon (Michael Caine), followed by a former magician (Morgan Freeman) whose pastime is exposing on TV the tricks and frauds of magicians, and have of course all the FBI and Interpol on their tracks. The roles of manipulators and manipulated, suspects and innocents change all the time, and as in a good magic show we are never sure what we exactly see on screen.
The story may have a few holes that cannot be filled even by magic, but the convention works well, and is well supported by the actors. Watching Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine is always a delight in this kind of roles that they enjoy playing in this epoch of their careers. The rest of the team does a good job as well, with special mentions for Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson. 'Now You See Me' is a film to enjoy, like a good show with magicians.