By: Sarah D'Avila
Now You See Me (2013)
PG-13 ~ 1h 55m
Genre: Action/Mystery
Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, Mark Ruffalo, and Morgan Freeman
Director: Louis Leterrier
Box Office: $351.7 million
Summary: A team of four famous illusionists called the Four Horsemen led by Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg) travel to perform arena-wide magic shows. This is to deceive the audience into supporting them to steal from banks and award the audience the stolen money. Audience members and federal agents, Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) and Alma Dray (Melanie Laurent) work together to capture the con magicians with help from Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman).
Review:
Now You See Me is deceiving in the way that it is portrayed. When I first started watching it, I thought it would be a simple action movie with magic tricks involved somehow. Once I finished it, I realized that I had been deceived! It was a very well-crafted, fast-paced mystery which I enjoyed because it keeps you engaged the whole time.
Each of the characters felt very different from each other which made it interesting to see how they were going to work together to continue and achieve their heist. In addition to that, each character was cast so perfectly but not in a way that the characters felt the same as the actors’ real persona. Instead, they used bits of their personality to bring the characters to life while still creating a new, fully-developed character. For example, Woody Harrelson’s speech and comedy helped him add to his compelling character of Merritt McKinney. This character stood out from other roles he had played in the past such as Haymitch Abernathy from The Hunger Games movie series.
The pacing and development of the story and plot felt very appropriate to the style and genre of the film. It was relatively fast-paced but still easy to follow as you didn’t get lost if you missed a slight detail. One thing that I will say is that there are a handful of details that you need to pay attention to ensure you understand the ending. “The closer you look, the less you see” - Daniel Atlas.
The cinematography and angles of certain scenes felt very fitting to the feeling being portrayed. For example, when the Four Horsemen were performing on stage, the camera was moving around similar to what it would look like during shows and concerts.
Now You See Me was a very engaging, entertaining movie that I think caters to many genres of film. It felt like an action, mystery, thriller, crime, comedy film all in one which I believe is something very difficult to achieve right. Furthermore, the script felt believable yet fun and was done in a way that didn’t feel cringy.
I would recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys any type of genre. If you like action or thriller to comedies or mysteries. I advise you to watch this if you want an entertaining but fast-paced film. Also, if you enjoy solving mysteries and picking up on clues along the way.
Rating: ☆☆☆☆
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