6.24.2013

Now You See Me




You know what I saw? A waste of talent.

From hackmeister Louis Leterrier (The Transporter, The Incredible Hulk and Clash of the Titans) comes a film that thinks it is so smart that it will talk down to you and tell you that you're stupid and nowhere near as smart as the film you are watching is. If you've seen any film like this, you will be heads and tails much smarter than this drivel.



Honestly, this is my third time trying to write this review after it has been deleted multiple times. I have spent way too much time trying to get this review out than this film deserves. This is my shorter review of the film as I really don't want to have to rewrite this damn thing again.

Magicians, The Four Horsemen: Daniel Atlas, (Jesse Eisenberg) Merritt McKinney, (Woody Harrelson) Jack Wilder (Dave Franco) and Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher) are approached by an unseen figure. One year later, they are performing a magic trick in Las Vegas where they rob a bank in France and make it literally rain money on the audience. In the crowd for the trick are The Four Horsemen's benefactor, Arthur Tressler (Michael Caine) and an ex-magician who debunks tricks, Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman).



As robbing a bank is a federal crime, FBI Agent Dylan Rhodes is assigned to the case with Interpol Agent Alma Dray (Melanie Laurent). The audience spends most of the film with these two characters because if we spent the bulk of the film with The Four Horsemen then we would know all the twists that were coming our way.

Unfortunately for the audience and director Louis Leterrier, these twists are so obvious and predictable, than anyone who has seen any film will know where Now You See Me is heading way before we get there. The film tries its hardest to be clever, but no matter how many twists of over the top camera movements that are thrown our way, its all just smoke and mirrors to try and cover up a bad script and an overall bad film.



The biggest issue is the waste of talent this film attracted. Most notable for being wasted are Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine. Michael Caine especially, is wasted as the very rich benefactor. In the second half of the film, his character practically disappears while Morgan Freeman basically has one purpose in the film. And speaking of one purpose, Dave Franco's Jack also serves only one purpose and literally felt like the writers had nothing to give this character except for his one purpose. Just a waste.

You're smarter than this film thinks you are. Don't be like me and giving in to seeing the film.



4.0/10

As an aside, here's a picture of Mark Buffalo. Much more entertaining.


No comments:

Post a Comment