Now You See Me ... Wish I Hadn't

Now You See Me is a magic heist thriller with an ensemble cast of usually enjoyable and talented actors. Spoiler alert! They're wasted on screen here. Though there are enjoyable scenes and it delivers the required twists and turns at the "right" moments, it never pulls all of its pieces together into a good movie.

The reveals and twists are often quite boringly predictable. There are several scenes where it's revealed to the audience that a scene we saw earlier was actually something different. Pretty standard fare, and when done right it can be fun. You can see something similar in a lot of heist movies, think Ocean's 11 or more recently Trance. You can also see this done better in the magic thriller The Prestige. It even has Michael Caine in it! Come on! Here is one of the biggest problem with Now You See Me: there's nothing more there. Nothing will be uncovered on repeat viewings. There is no mystery and there is no foreshadowing beyond the heavy-handed and awkwardly obvious. Those earlier scenes with a shadowy figure in a hoodie? They are just there so that the figure can be revealed later on. Who pulled all of the magicians together and gave them their instructions? Ugh. Why do the two protagonists kiss? I actually have no idea on that one but I don't think seeing this movie again would help that.

There's nothing wrong with how the movie is shot and it does keep a consistent mood throughout. However, I was bored for a great deal of the movie and not due to a lack of action on screen. There are plenty of sweeping and zooming camera angles to misdirect you from the real magic trick here: stealing your money.