"Now You See Me" is has a wonderful cast and story lines that surprised and charmed me. I already know that I want to see the film again to scrutinize the misdirection that pervades both the on-screen "magic" acts and the overlaying plot lines.
The film has three principal sets of characters--first, the illusionists who are brought together by an unseen force to build a spectacular act, including at least one bank robbery, played out on location in Las Vegas, New Orleans, and NYC; second, law enforcement, including the FBI and a lovely French Interpol agent (Melanie Laurent); and third, the observers, including Michael Caine as a financial backer and Morgan Freeman as a magic-act debunker. Caine and Freeman are their usual wonderful selves, each playing a superficially archetypal role which is then revealed to be not all that it seems as the plot unfolds. The FBI and Interpol are necessary characters for the plot, and Mark Ruffalo and Ms. Laurent do well considering their characters exist in part to be duped by the illusionists. The actors who portray the illusionists--Isla Fisher, Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, and Dave Franco-- infuse their roles with great energy, charm, and wit, albeit a theatrically glib wit. I and others in the theater remarked that we would have liked to see more of them on screen.
The plot is too complex for me to do it justice before seeing the film again; suffice it to say, it involves four illusionists who build a complex act that seems to involve crimes which the FBI then investigates with comical frustration.
The movie is worth seeing for the actors, the visuals, the locations, and the misdirection and plot twists. I am sure that a careful scrutiny will imply some plot holes that will bother some viewers, but I also believe that an even more careful scrutiny would reveal that some 'holes' are not as deep as they seem at first. "Now You See Me" is a wonderful summer movie with great performances, surprising plot twists, and a "feel-good" energy.
The film has three principal sets of characters--first, the illusionists who are brought together by an unseen force to build a spectacular act, including at least one bank robbery, played out on location in Las Vegas, New Orleans, and NYC; second, law enforcement, including the FBI and a lovely French Interpol agent (Melanie Laurent); and third, the observers, including Michael Caine as a financial backer and Morgan Freeman as a magic-act debunker. Caine and Freeman are their usual wonderful selves, each playing a superficially archetypal role which is then revealed to be not all that it seems as the plot unfolds. The FBI and Interpol are necessary characters for the plot, and Mark Ruffalo and Ms. Laurent do well considering their characters exist in part to be duped by the illusionists. The actors who portray the illusionists--Isla Fisher, Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, and Dave Franco-- infuse their roles with great energy, charm, and wit, albeit a theatrically glib wit. I and others in the theater remarked that we would have liked to see more of them on screen.
The plot is too complex for me to do it justice before seeing the film again; suffice it to say, it involves four illusionists who build a complex act that seems to involve crimes which the FBI then investigates with comical frustration.
The movie is worth seeing for the actors, the visuals, the locations, and the misdirection and plot twists. I am sure that a careful scrutiny will imply some plot holes that will bother some viewers, but I also believe that an even more careful scrutiny would reveal that some 'holes' are not as deep as they seem at first. "Now You See Me" is a wonderful summer movie with great performances, surprising plot twists, and a "feel-good" energy.