Friday, August 9, 2013
Now You See Me (2013)
I don't know what I was expecting upon walking into the movie theater--perhaps some newer, better (if that were even possible) version of Christopher Nolan's The Prestige, but I should have learned by now: never walk into a movie theater with high expectations; you're only setting yourself up for the inevitable disappointment. Now You See Me had an excellent premise--four magicians robbing banks through elaborate magic tricks? Count me in! But it never quite lives up to its potential.
Four magicians, each gifted in different fields of magic and each summoned by a mysterious benefactor via tarot card, are performing together in Las Vegas as a single act, "The Four Horsemen". As with any magic show, a member of the audience is brought onstage to add a dimension of realness to the "magic" being performed. In this case, the audience member is apparently transported to his bank vault in France, where he activates an air duct that vacuums up the Euros and showers it down on the crowd in Las Vegas a few seconds later. Morgan Freeman, playing an ex-magician who makes money by revealing the secrets behind well-known illusions, serves his usual role, effectively narrating and explaining the mechanics behind each trick. And as Morgan Freeman's character makes clear, the bank heist is actually achieved not through magic, but through an elaborate, almost logic-defying plan that seems just as unbelievable as magic itself.
The movie is full of these flashy, superficial illusions involving hypnosis, holograms, doubles, giant mirrors, flash paper, and more, but that's what makes this movie so fun. The onscreen magic tricks are a source of endless entertainment; that is how the movie weaves its own magic. What is lacking, however, is the development of the actual storyline. The identity of the mysterious benefactor is something that's at the back of your mind through the entire film because it's clear that without his careful planning, the Four Horsemen could not exist; however, who he is, his motive, and ultimately, the entire point of the movie, is thrown at you towards the end, and before any time is given to process what exactly is going on, the credits start rolling. And really, by the time the benefactor's identity is hurriedly revealed, it feels as if it doesn't really matter anymore because the point of the movie isn't to pinpoint the perpetrator of all this, but to just sit back and enjoy the magic show.
Labels:
film
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