Now You See Me Review

Now You See Me is a great example of plot convenience, which is, by the way, a really bad thing.

Now You See Me stars Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson and a number of others in what seems to be the first major film release of the summer (discounting Iron Man 3). It is, basically, a heist movie revolving around magicians. Now, the premise is a great one, the idea of magicians using illusions and sleight of hand to  steal from a bank is indeed interesting. However, there are a numerous number of things wrong with this movie. But first the two things that were done right.

Performances were all round great, thanks to the ensemble cast, and the script is well written, dialogue kept clean and sharp.

Yeah, that's it.

Firstly, when doing a movie about magicians, it would make sense to use practical effects and real illusions to portray the events on screen, but NOPE! Excessive amounts of CGI for things that could be done far more effectively if done real (for example, the bubble scene. No explanation as to how it would be done in real life, therefore, the effect as done in the film is lackluster)

Secondly, as I said at the beginning, the entire plot revolves around plot convenience. NOTHING GOES AWRY! Ever. They just dismiss this 'elephant in the room' with a 'We're really smart' and 'there's an insider in the FBI, which is why they know everything'. However, nothing can explain the plot twist (not saying it here, but lets just say it's eerily similar, and objectively worse than the plot twist in Iron Man 3) as it just makes the plot more confused.

This could have been a good movie, but it just goes for the whole idea of 'Hollywood Genius' where the plot bends to the character's whims, and is therefore unrealistic. This movie is worth seeing for the impressive, albeit misplaced special effects and the performances, which are undeniably good.

Otherwise, don't expect much from this blockbustery 'smart' film.