Runtime: 1 hour, 56 minutes
Rating: PG-13
Director: Louis Leterrier
Quick Impressions:
I’m very surprised to report that Now You See Me is my favorite film of the summer so far. I was not expecting that. At all. So here’s to the Louis Leterrier for pulling off that amazing trick!
Had I realized before tonight’s movie that Leterrier also directed 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, I would have entered the theater with much higher expectations. For whatever reason, I really love that particular dramatization of the Hulk story. When I first saw it, The Incredible Hulk appealed to me on an almost primal level and reminded me of the affinity I felt for the Hulk when I was just a five-year-old girl reading comic books. Now You See Me stirred up similar feelings of nostalgic enchantment. It made me remember a time when the whole world seemed magical and mysterious. And I think that’s the idea.
What makes Now You See Me stand apart from other summer fare? The word “elegance” kept coming up over and over again as my husband and I discussed the movie during our drive home. I think the film offers the audience a tantalizing glimpse of the place where metaphor meets metadrama. The whole movie is a magic trick performed with panache by a deliberately distracting, charismatic cast. Over and over again, Now You See Me offers us explicit instructions on how we must watch it and sets us up to be amazed, enchanted, and (willingly) taken in.
I guess I like the movie so much because it seems to believe in what it’s selling. The world is a place of enchantment. What we see depends on where we choose to look. It held my attention.
The Good:
This movie manages to be something much greater than the sum of its parts, but its parts are, nevertheless, impressive. The cast is spectacular. I’m not sure that I’ve ever seen such a talented and diverse ensemble used better, but I can’t even count all the times I’ve seen an all-star ensemble used worse. Since I saw Glory and Driving Miss Daisy as a child, I have always loved Morgan Freeman, but he shows up in everything these days, and few films seem to know what to do with him. Sometimes, it just seems like they’re sticking him in there to improve the production value—a CGI earthquake here, a few well-spoken lines by Freeman there, and we’ll end it with a big explosion!
This movie takes a cast of genuinely diverse big name actors—Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, Woody Harrelson, Mélanie Laurent, and Mark Ruffalo—and then it actually uses them wisely, to its greatest advantage. I applaud the casting director. The talented actors playing the Four Horsemen all have incredible charisma, but few of them are at their best when attempting to pull off a conventional leading role.
This movie finds a way to let them star and yet play to their strengths. All four are really more suited to supporting roles. Woody Harrelson can play the lead, but he never disappoints as a kooky/provocative supporting character. Jesse Eisenberg is a talented actor but neither an everyman nor a matinee idol.
Isla Fisher is lovely, but she’s always at her best when she gets to be a little more outrageous than most mainstream leading ladies are scripted. I truly love Dave Franco. I’m always ecstatic when the Franco in any movie turns out to be Dave, but I’ve never seen him play the lead in a major release. (Perhaps he could, but he’s already shown that he’s outstanding as a supporting actor.) Now You See Me showcases these four stars in the way they shine best.
Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine are used to great effect, too. For most of the movie, these two take turns giving narration that may enlighten the audience but fails to enlighten the narrators. That’s a fascinating set-up. I also think it’s cute to cast Michael Caine in this film when fans of magic in the movies are bound to associate him with The Prestige. (Isla Fisher’s relationship with Jesse Eisenberg also seems to work nicely with season four of Arrested Development.) (And while I’m at it, maybe in the future Louis Leterrier will direct another Incredible Hulk staring Mark Ruffalo.)
I’ve been fascinated by Mélanie Laurent since Inglorious Basterds, and she’s also great here, very compelling and as mysterious as anyone might hope. Mark Ruffalo is very engaging, too, and the two have a natural on screen chemistry (though it never really seems romantic, which is perhaps the movie’s only major misstep.) In far smaller roles, Michael Kelly and Common are also pretty good. Aside from the cast, the movie’s major accomplishment is the way it mimics a magic act. Like any magician, the film plays to its strengths and diverts our attention away from its shortcomings. It takes great pains to show us that indulging in the illusion is ultimately more satisfying than picking apart the demystified mechanics. It’s like the movie’s saying, “Go ahead. It’s okay to enjoy this. Sometimes the smartest guy in the room is the one who knows he’s being deceived and still allows himself to enjoy the show.” How can you pick apart a movie like that?
From where I sit, Now You See Me offers us a character with whom it hopes we will identify, but I’m not going to say which one. The whole film is a big mystery and it maintains the surprise and suspense much longer than I would have thought possible. It’s very exciting—like watching a real magic act on screen. What’s even better is that the movie so quickly invites us to demystify the illusion and even shows us how. But then it turns around and shows us the drawbacks of doing so. The more magic is dispelled, the higher the stakes become for the audience because (if the movie’s trick is working on us) we realize just how much we don’t want the final trick to be spoiled.
Best Scene:
The opening is strong. I love the way we’re introduced to the four magicians one-by-one. This part of the film pairs nicely with the slightly later interrogation of the four suspects. The movie has a clever plot and elegant execution, but it succeeds in actually entertaining us at all times largely because of the charisma of the Four Horsemen.
What probably should be the best scene in the movie—the first big trick performed in Vegas—is unfortunately hurt by its over exposure in various trailers and previews. (I do find it fascinating, though, given the whole the-movie-is-the-magic-act thing that the trick used to make the audience in the movie interested in the Four Horsemen is the same trick used to make the
general public interested in seeing the movie.)
Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman’s two scenes together are also pretty great, almost entirely because of their collective acting talent and screen presence.
Best Scene Visually:
Well, I am a sucker for a well-placed carousel. For years I thought that Strangers on a Train was unique in its clever I’ll-bet-you-never-expected-this-carousel ending, but lately I’ve become aware that it actually falls into a teeming subgenre of movies that end with merry going round of one kind or another. This scene is pretty if ultimately a little bit unsatisfying.
In fact, the whole film is pretty. It’s very kind to its stars and makes them all look fantastically striking with its well-timed close-ups. (Isla Fisher floating around in a bubble is trippily pleasant, too.) For some reason, I was a particular fan of the scenes in New Orleans. First I thought fondly of the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland, but before long I found myself wondering if we could potentially pull off a trip to New Orleans in the near future. The film makes the city look very appealing. I wanted to be there.
Funniest Scene:
This movie is often funny. I loved the way that humor was used to advance the plot (because that’s not often the case in movies, so the audience is not expecting it). Moments that seem like throwaway jokes sometimes become anything but. The movie uses humor the way a real magician would during a live act.
Best Action Sequence:
Dave Franco’s big escape sequence is pretty fantastically choreographed. When it comes to action, Now You See Me is a smarter than average film.
Clearly a lot of thought went into these action scenes. The way Franco’s Jack Wilder attempts to evade Mark Ruffalo’s Dylan Rhodes plays out like a magic act itself. He doesn’t just run away—he runs away with the help of magic! Maybe that sounds obvious, but I’ve seen plenty of chase scenes in movies that are pretty uninspired and seem interchangeable with similar uninspired chase scenes from other, unrelated movies. In Now You See Me, Jack Wilder’s escape from the police is simply his next trick.
It’s a testament to the excitement of the scene in the apartment building that the high speed car chase at the end feels like a bit of a let-down. A high speed chase is somehow less thrilling than what a magician can conjure up with a deck of cards and some other basic props. That says
something.
The Negatives:
I saw this movie with my husband and a friend of ours, and all three of us agree that the “love story” seems really forced. In fact, I’d carry things a bit further and say it’s not even forced.
Basically, it’s not there. Suddenly one character kisses another out of the blue, and you’re left thinking, “Huh? So I guess it’s the end now?” The two characters suddenly climbing onto horses and riding off into the sunset instead would have been literally no less of an unbelievable non-sequitur.
Is that just what people do at the ending of movies? They kiss? Is that how we know it’s the end? They could have gotten married, or accidentally committed nearly simultaneous suicide because each thought the other was dead, or they could have received medals from Princess Leia in a big ceremony with lots of fanfare and well-timed Wookie exultation, (or one of them could have dropped to the ground and screamed with very abrupt rage “KHAAAAAN!”) None of these things would have felt any more forced or out of place than that kiss.
It just really did not work. (It’s not that these two couldn’t have fallen in love, it’s just that we’d seen no evidence of that happening. Come to think of it, I’m not even sure that that is what happened. Even they seemed to have no idea what that awkward kissing moment was all about.)
Honestly, I think the ending is the most disappointing part. It’s the same way with any good magic show. If the show is good, we’re always disappointed when it’s over. The ending feels a little anti-climactic, or maybe just disappointing. I’m not sure what the film could do differently. If it doesn’t demystify the trick for us, we’re left hanging, thinking, “Well that was a cop-out ending. Is there even an answer?” But then the instant it does demystify the trick, it’s impossible not to feel a twinge of disappointment, like, “Ohhh. That’s all?”
The ending is clever and coherent, but I did see it coming (though my husband did not), and of all the parts of the movie, the ending seemed the least powerful to me.
(Now when I say I anticipated the ending—here’s what I mean. This movie pulls you in so many different directions. The more you try to figure it out, the more irresistible red herrings it offers you. In New Orleans, I realized it was cleverer than I’d assumed, so I started thinking. There’s only one thing the movie never seems to suggest, so I figured that by the film’s own logic, that might be the actual answer. My suspicion got much stronger in New York. To the movie’s credit, though, I have to say that I was never sure until the ending that I was right. That seemed like a likely ending, but not the only likely ending. Any number of other things could have been true instead.) It is a good ending, though it’s not as mind blowing as something like The Prestige. But Now You See Me is a very different movie than The Prestige. It’s much faster and more fun to watch, but it’s also lighter. It’s kind of like cotton candy, light, delicious, and existing only for our fleeting pleasure in consuming it. Maybe a more apt comparison would be to the flash paper referenced in the movie.
Just before the credits rolled, I suddenly wondered, Wait! Are they setting this up for a sequel? Is this supposed to launch a franchise, or are they just trying to be poetic or something? I’d definitely watch a sequel, but I have trouble seeing how it could be as good. I’m not even sure how well this film will hold up to the scrutiny of multiple viewings (though I am planning to see it again soon).
Overall:
Now You See Me is the best movie I’ve seen so far this summer (or at least, it’s the summer blockbuster that I’ve liked the most). It’s a fun film because it’s self-consciously performing a magic trick and giving the audience enough information to demystify the illusion while at the same time mesmerizing us in the hope that when the time comes, we will instead choose to remain mystified. Though the movie is mysterious and suspenseful, it’s much easier to follow than the sentence I just wrote, and it’s also fast-paced and elegant with a winning sense of whimsy. My husband and I are planning to go back this weekend because we know that our ten-year-old will love the movie. It’s a lot of fun and, frankly, it’s refreshingly enchanting.