Review of Now You See Me (2013) by Miro11 — 21 Jul 2013

This film had a lot of problems.

A) There is no lead character, and you just do not know who you are supposed to root for. If you have an ensemble cast, you need to either have them all on the same time or clearly distinguish who is good and who is bad. Hence, all characters in this film were only superficially developed, and you end up not caring about any of them.

B) Almost nothing is explained. One of the best parts about heist films, which goes double for a film about magic, is when you get to explain everything in every little detail. This was not done. The narrative also had some gaping holes, such as the incredibly advanced technology which is used to create holograms. Never explained.

C) The twist at the end. I'm trying not to give anything away, but that twist at the end was interchangeable with any other character. The writer obviously just got to the end and thought I need to think of who the bad guy is going to be", and just picked a name out of a hat. Disappointing.

D) A very forced and unnecessary romantic interest.

HOWEVER.

The film was nevertheless enjoyable and entertaining, if not a bit predictable at times. The actors gave good performances, but the Harrelson/Eisenberg duo were begging for way more screentime. But despite my problems with it I enjoyed it and was never bored, just wished I had a character I could root for.