"First rule of magic: always be the smartest person in the room."

Rating: 8/10 (30 August 2013)

Louis Leterrier is a very smart director. Since my first encounter with Leterrier's work (Transporter 2) I was looking forward to his upcoming projects. Clash of the Titans was a well made summer blockbuster with one condition: you have to tun your brain off before watching it. It got a lot of hate but the problem wasn't with the director. Then came his best movie yet and that is the kick-ass The Incredible Hulk. A film with great characters and great action scenes. But after these movies Louis Leterrier had a problem: he was typecast in Hollywood as an action director. When he showed interest in making Now you see me, the studio didn't want to let him direct this movie since they were afraid he wouldn't handle the characters well. No one thought that he could tell stories. But Leterrier proved them wrong once again. Now You See Me is a great very fast paced heist movie where the crew pulling off the heist consists of magicians. There is plenty of action, magic and the camera has no time to stay in one place. That is probably my favorite aspect about this film the camera work. There is no shaky cam in this film despite that being Hollywood's biggest trend in movies. Yet still the camera is never static, it is always moving. Circling around the characters,spinning or zooming in and out.
The cast assembled in Now Yoou See Me is truly marvelous. Jesse Eissenebrg who has two on screen personas - the shy stuttering neurotic or the cocky and arrogant smart ass. Here he plays the second one. And well he is pretty good at it. Woody Harrelson is always a fun addition in any movie. Mark Ruffalo who probably has the most screen time is becoming more and more likable in recent films and here he does a great playing the FBI agent who is incapable of catching the Four Horsemen, the group of magicians. Seeing Morgan and Michael Caine is always a pleasure and just seeing these two act is a joy for a every movie fan. Isla Fisher plays one of the Four Horsemen but she serves more as a distraction for the audience so you pay attention to her and not what is happening in the film. Dave Franco once again gets his chance to shine. He has proved he can be very funny in 21 Jump Street and here he shows he can pull off a serous role too.
If you are looking for a well made suspensive heist movie with some action or just looking to cool yourself down in the cinema I believe that you can't go wrong with Now You See Me.
P.S. Solid cast, original story and a good word of mouth helped to make this film one of this summer's biggest surprises. When something has success in Hollywood it gets a sequel. Even though the film is a wrapped story. Not sure where they want to go with these characters next but I'm cautiously optimistic about the next film.