Now You See Me (2013)

It's weird how after "Red Lights" I've got in a short while to watch "Now You See Me". There's no direct connection between the two but somewhere deep down below there are some common points. Anyway, I don't think I'm gonna dig them up now. After all "Now You See Me" is not actually a title inviting you to "dig", but more oriented to provide doar pure entertainment.

The story goes like this: a group of four illusionist "specialized" more or less in different "areas" of the branch, are drawn together by a mysterious person to get a plan running. Which plan starts by robbing a bank on the other side of the Earth as main attraction of a live show. Of course, the cops are immediately on the case but they seem helpless and can't do much more than trying to prevent future "tricks" like that. In parallel we have a guy who earns a living by exposing magicians, who sees a good opportunity to improve his TV ratings. That's pretty much what the trailer gives you, and as usual I'll try to limit the spoilers. As extra, I can say that in the end the movie is a "revenge story" and as pretty much every "revenge story" is quite catchy, although ...

There are many, many aspects who drive back what could have been maybe one of the best thrillers of the year. What's getting obvious quite fast is that the plot is about revenge, which is not such a big deal after all. It's not even a big deal that you have a set of "suspects", one of whom you expect to be the "shadow man". The problem is that the final twist about that is so far from believable that it was better to not exist = I really would have preferred the lack of surprise. To supplement (somehow) the effect, we also have some action threads from which you would have expected a feedback in the end, but is either missing or is completely unrelated with the rest of the movie (one example: the "classic" romance that has nothing to do with the subject, especially since is almost as "invisible" throughout the movie as the rabbit from the hat, until the end of the trick).

I won't say anything about actors because I can't without giving too much = the acting relates with the final surprise. The directing belongs to Louis Leterrier - known for "Transporter" and "Clash of the Titans", and I guess here's where it lies most of the problem. The script could have been better, but even as it is, it still was possible to get a superiors result if, I don't know .. some role was less overacted throughout the movie, or it had less emphasis on some action points. Anyway, even if I have been disappointed for what it could have been, the story is catchy and the subject is sufficiently original not to get boring and to deserve watching.

Rating: 3 out of 5