Movies come in several varieties of “entertaining.” There are the those films that are great and consists of many awesome attributes such as A-list actors, a great script, an intriguing plot and great cinematography, just to name a few. Then there are those films that fall at the bottom of the barrel, lacking many of the basic elements that make a movie worthwhile. However, there are those few rare films that fall in the middle of the spectrum, where they consist of a few good attributes, but lack that one single attribute that will tip it over in to the category of great film-making. “Now you see me,” is just such. It has the element of a highly respected director, Louis Leterrier (Clash of the Titans 2010), notable writers Ed Solomon (Men in Black, 1997) and Boaz Yakin (Safe, 2012), a relatively decent all-star lineup of cast members, and very interesting visuals. However, it still fell short of having that little something that could have made it a great movie.
Something I found really interesting about the heavily dialog-loaded script is that, at one point in the film, one of the leading characters tells someone that “the key to magic is always being the smartest person in the room.” A great quote on every level, except that the film gives the viewer opportunities to be that “smartest person in the room” at every moment throughout runtime. Not a great move, I would add. The viewers should not be one step ahead of the movie at any point in time. In other words, if this film’s creative team cannot sweep the audience off in to a believable fantasy for an hour and twenty minutes, then they have failed miserably leaving the audience feeling cheated and wanting their money back. Hence, I would say that the writer’s didn’t follow their own philosophy at all. And in fact, the true philosophy of this flick should be “the more you know about it, the more bewildering you’ll find it.” READ FULL NOW YOU SEE ME FILM REVIEW >>