Now You See Me

..., Now You Don't. Entertainment that doesn’t offend your brain that is a huge advertisement for illusionists. One big advantage is that the gradation of the screenplay copies the gradation of the tricks in the movie and follows the rules of magic divulged in advance. Magic has always kept up with trends and, because we are a greedy generation interested only in having fun, our four (five) horsemen go at it cleverly and steal and then hand out money. A very pleasant cast, all of them with a good part to play and they enjoy the “moment", supplemented by the two old men, Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine, who gratefully accepted their roles of the biggest assholes of the entire charade. Leterrier is on top of kinetics, so all of the tricks are extremely dynamic and easy to see (during the performance), + not forgetting his favorite car chases. A seriously well-done popcorn movie with a twist that even I was surprised about. (2013-07-24)

Though Now You See Me tries to give the impression of being a clever and sophisticated crime-thriller with illusionists, it is actually a rather dull and half-baked tale full of holes, narrative nonsense and moronic twists dressed up in a superficially attractive and maximally spectacular coat in the form of action-oriented editing, flashy visuals, a lot of famous actors and thumping music, which is apparently meant to lull viewers to sleep so that they don’t start thinking about the plot. Of course, it would perhaps be possible to make an entertaining and high-quality film about how four extravagant showmen commit entirely absurd robberies and disguise them as magic shows. But then it wouldn’t have been possible for the plot of Now You See Me to include a completely serious storyline involving a Secret Service who is trying to investigate their case in a factual way and the character of the expert on magic who tries to somehow logically explain the bizarre illusions to him, but ends up explaining them in a way that would be completely impracticable in real life. The atmosphere of the magic performances is thus completely ruined by the film, because while you can certainly admire the magicians for their nimble hands and the precision of their staging, both of these elements were unfortunately replaced with megalomaniacal computer tricks and editing. Which definitely produces the desired “wow” effect for a brief moment, but it takes a lot away from the believability of the overall magical stylization. (2021-02-20)

Compared to The Prestige, it looks like an opening act created by art school students, and I don’t consider Nolan’s highly-praised opus to be great. Unfortunately, Now You See Me plods along from the very first moment, and while there are a bunch of good actors and they're well cast, it's a typical consumer Hollywood commercial from start to finish without a shred of invention. And when, in the course of the film, you discover that there's going to be some devilish subterfuge and the magic tricks are not solved by wit and ingenuity, but by visual effects, something is wrong. So average for the entertaining ensemble of stars and its brisk pace. (2016-09-05)

Overwrought and contrived crap - sometimes I'm amazed at how screenwriters are able to ruin their own promising idea. The final half hour of Now You See Me in particular was downright miserable and I probably won't watch it again. The film is, for me, another piece in the puzzle of "Anything with Michael Caine in it". The other actors (including Morgan Freeman) are barely worth mentioning. Two stars and a bit for the (brisk, but totally unnecessary) action scene. (2014-03-28)

Such a fast, dynamic, and perfectly deafening ride that I had to struggle to pull out grains of detachment and keep from giving it the highest possible rating. This gang firmly counts on the fact that the audience is willingly letting themselves be led astray, only to later admire the resulting denouement with nothing short of awe. And because Louis Leterrier is a damn skillful puppeteer, I won't let my minor criticisms about the reveal and the slower pace of the second half sound too loudly. (2013-10-07)