Movie Review: Now You See Me

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Fast paced, slick, fun

Cons: The payoff is lacking

The Bottom Line:

Heist with magicians

Films is fun as you watch it

But ending falls short

“Tonight, We Are Going to Rob a Bank.” 

I don’t know where I was in 2013, but I don’t remember hearing anything about Now You See Me (or it’s sequel a couple of years later).  Last year, I was intrigued when I finally heard about it.  When some friends decided to watch it recently, I quickly invited myself to join the group.  While I know plenty of people who seem to enjoy it, I was of two minds about it.

The story focuses on four magicians, each with a different skill set.  They are brought together by a mysterious person and start to work together as the Four Horsemen.  A year later, they are on stage in Vegas where they pull off an impressive feat – they rob a bank in Paris.  It had to be magic, right?  Now, the FBI is hot on their tail, but that was just their warm up act.  What do they have planned next?  Will the FBI stop them?

I know that isn’t my typical teaser since I didn’t talk about characters or give actor’s names.  Honestly, the character names are a bit irrelevant.  I will say the cast had some big names in it.  The four magicians are played by Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, and Dave Franco, with Mark Ruffalo as the FBI agent chasing them down.  Other highlights from the cast are Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine.  The script doesn’t give the actors too much to work with as far as character goes, but everyone is fine in their roles.

That’s because this movie is a heist film with magicians as the main characters.  As such, it is focused on the magic and the heists.  We see the characters in action, and then we get discussions about how they pulled it off.  All the while, the FBI is three steps behind trying to stop them before they pull their next stunt.

All this gives us plenty of action and cool things to look at.  I can see why these movies have a loyal fan base.  With the various characters we are following, the action jumps around, but is never hard to follow.

And the magic is cool.  We get multiple jaw dropping moments.  Yes, even though I know it is movie magic, my mind is still trying to figure out how they did that.  I want to believe what I’m seeing is real.  Even the explanations of how they did what they did don’t dampen my enjoyment.

But I do have a couple of issues.  The first is my usual with a heist movie.  I don’t like rooting for people to get away with stealing.  Yes, they do try to justify it, but I still don’t like it.  This movie was so slick, however, that I didn’t mind as much as I usually do.

My bigger issue is the ultimate payoff.  I kind of felt like it was a letdown.  I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I felt like there should have been more to it than what we got at the end.

I’m not sorry I watched Now You See Me.  If it works, I’ll join my friends to watch the next one.  But I wish the payoff had been better for this movie.