Guest review by Milton Posner
Now You See Me is an interesting film. It centers around four talented magicians who are brought together by an unknown benefactor and start putting on shows a year later under the name “The Four Horsemen.”
For the finale of each show, the Horsemen steal money from various financial targets – a French bank, an insurance magnate, and a safe guarded by the FBI. After the first robbery, the FBI starts pursuing the Horsemen, helped by magic debunker Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman). Despite attempts by FBI agent Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) and Interpol agent Alma Vargas (Melanie Laurent) to stop them the Horsemen always remain one step ahead of the FBI throughout the film.
The acting in this movie is good, but nothing really special. Jesse Eisenberg, Dave Franco, Isla Fisher, and Woody Harrelson make up the Four Horsemen, while Morgan Freeman, Mark Ruffalo, Melanie Laurent, and Michael Caine make up the rest of the cast. Some good actors are present, but I doubt anybody is getting an acting award for this movie.
What I do like about this film is how all of the events fit together and it becomes fun just to watch and figure out exactly what just happened. It can be difficult at times, but it’s entertaining to watch, and makes perfect sense since the characters are magicians. It sort of reminded me of Inception in that sense, though this is definitely less confusing. The movie is always leaving you wondering exactly what is going to happen next.
Just watching the magic tricks is fun. Even though it’s still a movie and the actors probably didn’t even have to execute most of the tricks they are still amusing. J. Daniel Atlas (Eisenberg) and Jack Wilder (Franco) are card trick/general magicians, Merritt McKinney (Harrelson) is a mentalist, and Henley Reeves (Fisher) is an escape artist.
I highly recommend watching this movie, the plot of which is quite original. There have been many movies featuring magic (one in particular comes to mind), but this the first movie in which magic is used to pull heists, sometimes on a global scale.
Age Recommendation: There are a few sexual references and one sexual scene between two characters (no nudity) plus a few swear words. In terms of violence, there are a few fights and an exploding car. A little kid might not be able to handle it, but most kids should be fine, as sexuality and violence are far from being a centerpiece in the film.
Final Verdict: A great film, with magic and mystery aplenty. 8/10
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