Movie Review: Now You See Me

“The closer you look, the less you’ll see.” Those are some of the first words wise-cracking magician Danny Atlas tells his audience within the first minutes of Louis Leterrier’s Now You See Me. Unfortunately, his words are the tell that gives away the increasingly wobbly drama of the film itself, resulting in what could possibly be the greatest shell game in theaters. Coming from the director of the Transporter series, the better Incredible Hulk, and Clash of the Titans, the film’s quality is is hit or miss, and a great indicator of what lies under the shell: not a lot.

On paper, the film should be a home run. The cast is generally comprised of current fan favorites (Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher), always good members of the establishment (Morgan Freeman, Woody Harrelson, and Mark Ruffalo) as well as fresh talent (Melanie Laurent of “Inglorious Basterds” and James Franco’s little brother Dave). The premise of magician’s becoming bank robbers on the run certainly radiates rebellious fun. However, the film settles for little beyond the depth of its trailer and surface ideas, making no real gains in characterization nor in even making sense of its own all too weaving and withholding plot.

The general setup: Four street magicians with different talents are brought together to work together, and we catch up a year later when the group is known as The Four Horsemen. They proceed to attempt to pull off three grandiose magical acts, the first of which involves robbing a bank. The act draws the attention of the FBI and Interpol, respectively represented by Ruffalo and Laurent’s characters. While their relationship is often an unearned front and center, they’re not bad characters on their own, particularly the snarling, wry Rhodes. His determination and grit may seem a little par for the course of loner cop but Ruffalo projects sufficient humanity and anxiety as his case gets away from him.  Soon the FBI enlists the aid of renowned magic debunker Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman) and what ensues is the FBI and Bradley pursuing the Horsemen till the inevitable final showdown.  The climax of the film gets twisty but it feels like too much too late, and opens up more questions than the film’s remaining time can answer.  

The film does boast an impressive cast that often entertains with witty, rapid fire dialogue, matching the brisk pace of the rest of the film. Strangely, the Horsemen offer little in terms of backstory or development and thus seem rather flat at second glance. The forced romantic relationship between Rhodes and Vargas suffers from this same lack of context, as well as the completely wild but always spot on conjectures Bradley makes about the implausible and elaborate plots the Horsemen carry out. This surface level attention paid to character arcs and anything beyond people existing to spur the plot onward proves to the film’s greatest failing, because the story ends without having a single thing to say. Leterrier’s greatest trick is that he is able to mask these great leaps in logic and character motivation with cinematic aplumb. Unlike a good magician, Leterrier cannot put aside his penchant for style over substance long enough to convince the audience that their suspension of disbelief will yield anything of lasting value. 

We're starting something new this week. Discovery Sessions is going to begin to review more than just music. We're branching off into film, video games, TV, and other forms of entertainment. We would love your feedback! Let us know @discoverysess or in the comments! This first movie review comes to you from my good friend Seth Smith, so let us know your thoughts!