Now You See Me – Movie Review

Posted by His Master's Review ⋅ September 18, 2013 ⋅ 2 Comments

Filed Under Dave Franco, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Isla Fisher, Magic, Mélanie Laurent, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Now You See Me, Woody Harrelson

Be a good swimmer and dive for a wholesome fare – sans gore, sans murder -galore, sans horrific violence! ‘Now You See Me’ not only entertains with its high class magic shows but also does justice to the caper thriller genre letting chief characters not only indulging in adventure but also swindle in full view of the audience.

So don’t give a damn to a supposedly loose-stringed plot of Now You See Me, sit back and pipe the fun.

Now You See Me tells the story of four illusionists – David Atlas [Jesse Elsenberg], Jack Wilder [Dave Franco], Henley Reeves [Isla Fisher] and Merritt McKinney [Woody Harrelson] find pulled together at an unknown address.

After a year’s gap as ‘The Four Horsemen’ they perform at Las Vegas, sponsored by insurance man Arthur Tressler [Michael Caine].

Michael Caine
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For their tricks they are seen soliciting a man from the audience. A bank in far off Paris is shown robbed, money vacuumed up through an activated air duct, relying for the make belief on the maxim ‘the more you think you see’ the easier it is to get befooled!

Investigation by FBI man Dylan Rhodes [Mark Ruffado] and Interpol Agent Alma Drag [Melanie Laurent] yields little and the Four Horsemen are let free.

Rhodes seeks help of Thoddeus Bradley [Morgan Freeman], expert at debunking magicians’ tricks, the main motive in Bradley’s help apparently being to take revenge for his treatment of Drag’s father three decades ago.

Millions of dollars are lifted from insurance magnet Tressler’s account and in true Robin Hood style distributed to the aggrieved among the audience.

The investigation, the thrilling car chases, the magic shows around the world have their own captivating-the-audience power.

Rhodes ultimately comes out in the open and welcomes the Four Horsemen into ‘The Eye’, the Secret Society of Magicians.

Watch Now You See Me for pure, unadulterated fun but forget it if you are a high-brow, standoffish avid watcher of the gore, for no point in dubbing an original effort as stupid.

Now You See Me also seems to send a signal to the corrupt many: that nemesis someday does overtake the wrong doer even if it achieves it in Rob-Paul-benefit-Peter style!

Rating: 3.5 stars

By Joseph Rana, Editor-in-Chief, His Master’s Review