Now You See Me (2013)

[Plain Old Tele]

Discuss.

[baumer]

Can't Wait!!

[Silverice92]

I just saw it and I love it.  I had the advantage of reading the original script so I was prepared when I went in.  I was surprised how much the movie changed from it.  Some good and some bad changes but overall, I really like the experience.  Really love Mark Rufalo though.

[Captain Craig]

Grade: A

 

An entertaining ensemble cast that delivers a fun mystery and suspense story that is two parts revenge and one part initiation.

 

The four horsemen(Fisher, Eisenberg, Harrelson & Franco) are really not the main focus of the story, they share that focus with the FBI director chasing, Rhodes(Ruffalo), and the Exposer of Magic, Thaddeus Bradley(Freeman). Really there is brief background given on our 7 "main" characters but it's enough and after all the real story is the initiation. 

 

The Horsemen are all brought together from their various individual modest successes to form a magic act in the early stages of the film. It then jumps one year and we see them thanking their benefactor, Arthur Tressler(Kaine), for doing so.

 

This is where the story could've used some firming up. Come to find out they, the horsemen, are actually having a prolonged and engaged initiation right to join the millennia old guild of expert magicians known as The Eye. We aren't even introduced to the concept of The Eye till the second act by tag-a-long Interpol agent Dray(Laurent). If the audience had been more aware of this early I don't see how it would've effected the mystery. The mystery is "who is the 5th person/horseman", who are we taking our orders from?

 

The last magic act is broken up into two parts and while the leap from the roof is cool it is a fairly anticlimatic moment cause the huge acts up till then had all been more involved. Still, it's an enjoyable film and anyone who says they saw the

Kaiser Soyze/Sixth Sense

moment coming are full of it. A theater of 300 nearly all gasped in unisom. Still, I expect some to want to say they saw it somehow, someway.

 

This film will be fun to watch again and see what's laced throughout now that you know how it unfolds. 

[narniadis]

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. The twists and turns were kept at just the right pace to keep the story moving while the individual hijinks reminded me of Oceans 11 and 13 in particular. My wife and I were betting on the 5th horseman with me taking one character and my wife coming up with the winner but even she didn't see how it was going to play out. Nicely done, as Captain Craig said there are some things that could have used a little more fleshing out earlier so as to give us a bit tighter conclusion, but it was a lot to pack into a 2 hour run time. 

 

The movie is totally worth checking out particularly if you have seen the action/sci-fi heavy blockbusters so far this summer.

 

B+

[RobinHood26]

This movie could have been great but, this was directed with no style, no vision, or plan for what he wanted the movie to be.

 

I can't name the main character, cause i'm not sure who he is. The camera moved to fast and the editing was choppy. With that said it had fun moments, but this film should have been much much more, parts were laughable. 

 

C

Edited May 31, 2013 by Jay Salahi

[baumer]

I enjoyed it right up until the end when it didn't explain anything.  The 5th Horseman was a complete shock and that was a very good moment in the film, but how they accomplished what they did in the film is pretty much impossible and they didn't take their time to explain how it all happened.  I would have liked a bit more closure at the end.

 

7.5/10

[Captain Craig]

Remember, Thaddeus was the one who was exposing the magic tricks throughout the movie.

He showed how the Paris vault trick was done.

He laid out how the warehouse insurance vault was done.

He explained most likely how the 4th Horseman "dead man drop" was accomplished.

 

Once he's caught, the audience doesn't have him revealing how they escaped the roof.

It's magic....sometimes that's the final and only explanation you get. 

 

Now if you mean closure in terms of what happens after the carousel I'm fine with that as it's mysterious what happens to them next and in synch with how The Eye maintains that shroud of the unknown. And has for centuries. Plus...real world reason...leaves avenues open for sequels. What/Who does The Eye think worthy next?

[75Live]

Yeah I really enjoyed the movie.

 

Woody was hilarious for most of the film.  The others did their jobs well.  Morgan Freeman is well...Morgan Freeman so that equals great.

 

I thought they explained everything pretty well other than the roof jumping thing, but it wasn't that big a part of the plot.  So I can just go with lighting tricks like they did on the whole building.

 

The movie was pretty easily an A/A- until the whole Eye thing at the end.  I figured out it was the guy's son pretty early on and figured out it was Ruffalo not long before the jail scene.  I liked that part of the story and it explained by all the heists were being done.  However, yeah the whole thing being an initiation into some secret society was a tad  bit of a letdown.  

 

I know they touched on the Eye a couple times in the film but I would have liked them to open the movie with the Freeman speech about it with the hyrogliphics and say something like "but that's just a story" or something to throw you off.  At least it would have set up the importance of the Eye a little bit more.

 

But even saying that, it was a fun and entertaining flick that I will most likely see again.

 

B+, possibility of going up to an A-

[Captain Craig]

For me that is the one big flaw. The reveal and explanation to the audience of what The Eye is, who it is etc was not fully realized.

Having the audience discover it by way of Interpol agent Laurent was not organic. She was a wild card, sat a desk for what we were told and this was her first field job. Not something Rhodes planned for but he made it work. 

 

The audience should've been given the tinniest bit of hint about The Eye in that initial scene where they meet in apt 6A. Even if it was just a hologram of the Eye of Horus. One of the Horsemen, maybe Henley, gasps, drops her coffee(that Merritt has already drawn the audience to earlier) and says something like The Eye wants us!?  The audience would then have that visual and name, then Laurent could be looking into it and the explanation unfold from there. We have to kinda stumble into the idea this is an elaborate initiation and not until that freight elevator ride is it confirmed that yes, indeed this is a test to see if the Horsemen are worthy. 

[Deep Wang]

it's basically a procedural about how the magicians do their thing.  While it doesn't all work out, I have plenty of fun with it.  The fight in the apartment was awesome.

 

I'd love to see a sequel that focuses on the Four Horsemen this time.  They were great, but severely underused.  I understand why they were, but I still wanted more.  That is always a good thing.

 

Hell, I'd watch a "B Side" movie that showed everything from their perspective, like practicing and planning.  That with their chemistry and banter could be a lot of fun.

[John Marston]

I just read the ending on Wikipedia and it seems like kind of a downer of an ending. 

[Captain Craig]

Well it's seemingly wrong then. 

[John Marston]

Well it's seemingly wrong then. 

 

 

it looks like the movie just ends with no real conclusion. Also, Freeman is a bad guy? 

[Captain Craig]

The conclusion is

they passed the tests and are now welcome to join The Eye, the secret group of global mages---no Morgan Freeman isn't a bad guy. He was framed by The Eye(aka Rhodes specifically). This is why wiki with no context can't be used as a basis for solid decision making

[John Marston]

The conclusion is

they passed the tests and are now welcome to join The Eye, the secret group of global mages---no Morgan Freeman isn't a bad guy. He was framed by The Eye(aka Rhodes specifically). This is why wiki with no context can't be used as a basis for solid decision making

 

 

so he is framed? And the person that frames him gets away with it? 

[Captain Craig]

Seemingly so....yes. 

 

Rhodes father was a magician, who wanted to something impressive. So he locked himself in a safe and had it dropped to the bottom of the East River. Freeman's character was once in charge of making safes but he cut corners, used substandard steel and Rhodes father happened to use one of these safe's for his trick. Rhodes blames him for causing the safe to warp in such a way under the pressure that affected the trick. So for Rhodes it's about revenge when Freeman(Thaddeus) really is only to blame for pinching pennies like any company(I'm sure there is a political statement there but I digress). So, yeah Rhodes has been planning this awhile and the film touches on appropriate planning....plus the "be the smartest guy in the room" tag line. 

I'm telling you it's much better than critics or wiki can do it justice.

[John Marston]

Seemingly so....yes. 

 

Rhodes father was a magician, who wanted to something impressive. So he locked himself in a safe and had it dropped to the bottom of the East River. Freeman's character was once in charge of making safes but he cut corners, used substandard steel and Rhodes father happened to use one of these safe's for his trick. Rhodes blames him for causing the safe to warp in such a way under the pressure that affected the trick. So for Rhodes it's about revenge when Freeman(Thaddeus) really is only to blame for pinching pennies like any company(I'm sure there is a political statement there but I digress). So, yeah Rhodes has been planning this awhile and the film touches on appropriate planning....plus the "be the smartest guy in the room" tag line. 

I'm telling you it's much better than critics or wiki can do it justice.

 

 

so does Freeman's character deserve to be framed? I mean I just can't see any justification for framing an innocent person so I don't know how I am supposed to sympathize with the magician people. 

[Jay Beezy]

Freeman exposed Ruffalo's dad, which prompted him to do that vault trick that killed him. Ruffalo was exacting vengeance on those responsible: Freeman for humiliating his dad, the bank and Caine for not paying out the life insurance, and the vault place that created the bad vault that killed his dad.EDIT: I missed the Wikipedia comment. But it is how it goes down more or less.The romance between Ruffalo and Laurent was totally unnecessary.

Edited June 1, 2013 by Jay Beezy

[Captain Craig]

so does Freeman's character deserve to be framed? I mean I just can't see any justification for framing an innocent person so I don't know how I am supposed to sympathize with the magician people. 

Legally, not likely. 

 

Rhodes perspective was that he lost a father due to Thaddeus intervening. Justice here is not a "by the book" one. 

 

Of course....and it's a crazy thought....you could just go see the movie. You are much more supplied with information than most now.