Tries to juggle one too many balls, but otherwise fine

Rating: Null/10 (30 December 2013)

Yet another heist movie where the con artists pull of frankly speaking ridiculous games in order to further their own agenda. This particular one throws in the magician angle, and it works surprisingly well. Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher and Dave Franco all do a great job as The Four Horsemen, the magicians in question, and I really enjoyed them. They all have a clear identity, even if Eisenberg's J. Daniel Atlas does get the most screen time, but then again every group needs a face. Would I have preferred for all them to be on the screen equally? Probably, seeing as Harrelson especially was a bit underutilized, but the movie works as it is.
Mark Ruffalo also does a really good job as the FBI detective trying to catch these four. Usually in a caper or heist movie such as this one, you can either have the despicable mark that everyone loves to see fooled, or you can have the sympathetic mark, but in that case the actor has to be charismatic enough to pull it off. Luckily Ruffalo is just that. He's angry and arrogant enough that you don't feel bad when he gets fooled, but he's also nice enough that you feel for him and don't mind following him around.
Unfortunately the movie is a bit crowded with unneeded side characters. And as much as it pains me to say this, Morgan Freeman is the worst offender. He's a fine actor and literally oozes charisma, but his character has little to no point being in this film. He's mainly there to spout exposition that could have easily been relocated to other characters. Mélanie Laurent has the same problem, though her character might have been bearable if it had been just her taking up precious screen time.
Aside from that I can say that it's an okay film. The first half, when we get introduced to the characters and the mysteries, is easily the best part of the film. All the Horsemen are given a really good introduction, the first two show scenes are phenomenal fun and it feels like it's building up to something great.
That something turns out to be something of a letdown and I cannot say that I enjoyed the final third or so all that much. It's passable, but when my friends and I discussed this movie afterwards, we very quickly came up with numerous ways it could have been made better. Mark of a poor film writing. It's hard to write a good ending, I know, but at least some effort should be involved.
Still, all in all this is a good film. It's fun to watch, the characters are enjoyable and the magic tricks are both pleasing to witness as well as imaginative. The ending isn't the greatest one possible, but it doesn't ruin the film. Give it a watch if you like heist films or stage magic.
One question though. Why wasn't the name of this movie The Four Horsemen?