Now You See Me

This movie is fun. It has a Las Vegas feel with fast action, glitter and stunning magic shows. Their illusions are grand and very complicated but not subtle. Compared to The Prestige, a turn of the century movie about rival magicians, whose magic is sublime, Now You See Me is overplayed. What The Prestige did with a rubber ball Now You See Me needed an FX team CG masters. Some of the set ups in Now You See Me rival scenes from Mission Impossible.

Basically this movie is a caper wrapped in magic. There is a main plot and subplots but the stitching is not flawless. We are told the heart of magic is misdirection; divert the audience’s attention. This movie cannot get out of its own way. You get a pretty good idea of who’s who before the movie’s end. The secret of the story leaks out before its culmination.

The cast is wonderful, but no one does a star turn. They all work well together. Jessie Eisenberg has a stylish goatee and coiffed hair but he is still nebbish. Woody Harrelson plays the heavy. He is the mentalist (hypnotist), who uses his ability for one very funny and unexpected scene. Mark Ruffalo is outside his usual placid self and a bit rough. He still must have some of that Hulk juice coursing through his veins. Morgan Freeman could sleep walk through this part, but it is always a pleasure to see him. Then there is Sir Michael Caine, not one of his more memorable roles. He is the mean fat cat with the dough. Michael Caine played in The Prestige so maybe the producers were hoping to tap into his juju.

The movie was shot in Las Vegas, New Orleans, Paris and New York. Visually the film is very appealing. The car chases in New York are impressive, considering the mangled crashes take place where many of us drive.  The finale is shot in Queens in a building used by graffiti artists. It is a real spectacle to see how the building is transformed in a night light show. The location of the building is referred to as the Five Points. The Five Points is located downtown Manhattan near Chinatown not in Queens. Another failed attempted at misdirection.