Now You See Me
I love magic. In fact, I’d say that not loving magic qualifies you as a soulless automaton sent from the future to prevent the ascension of the one man that can lead us against the machines, Christian Bale. So, while Now You See Me isn’t the usual sort of nerdery that we cover on Dorkadia, watch me wave my hands and make it the subject of my article. Abracadabra, poof, here it is. Fucking magic.
Now You See Me is one of the most fun movies I’ve watched this year. It possesses a true sense of whimsy without straying into Neil Gaiman magic pixie-girl territory, and it has a core story with just enough gravity to keep massive personalities in the film in a steady orbit. And it’s just funny – the dialogue is very snappy. The thing that really sells the movie, though, is the characters and the general wonder of magic.
None of the characters are particularly deep – the movie simply has too many leads, so the shared screen time reduces them to a few notes a piece. However, those notes tend to ring true, or at least ring hilarious. Woody Harrelson playing Woody Harrelson the Blackmailing Mentalist was a delight to watch, and watching Jesse Eisenberg play Mark Zuckerberg the Magician was also fun. Mark Ruffalo shines as always, as were Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine. This cast is HUGE for a non-epic film, but well worthwhile in my opinion.
The magic itself was also cool, though not nearly as well done as the magician movies that came out a few years ago, The Prestige and The Illusionist. Too much is done via CG and not actual stage magic, and there is too much just out of our reach technology involved in some of the tricks not to make you roll your eyes a few times. The hypnotism works a bit too well and the CG makes tricks look a bit too smooth. But, while the execution of the magic isn’t great, the treatment of it is. The movie plays on the idea that everyone loves magic very well, and while it’s extremely sappy about what is essentially a dying artform in the modern age, it really punched my heart. This movie is great for anyone that grew up watching David Copperfield walk through the Great Wall of China or make the Statue of Liberty disappear.
The movie does have some weak spots. Again, there are so many people in the cast that none of them REALLY get to shine. There are sort of two twists in the film, and one of them is completely unnecessary (but would make a great TV show). The overall scheme is a little TOO involved to swallow. Oceans 11 pretty much hit exactly the right balance of absurd Rube Goldbergesque plan, but Now You See Me goes a bit too far. Overall it’s extremely generic – it’s pretty much a madlib of a complex heist film. There’s nothing really new or different here to sink your teeth into. There’s also this bizarre and completely unneeded action sequence in the middle of the film that seems very out of place. A kung-fu fight devolves into a crazy car chase with an over the top explosion. It was actually a very well done action sequence, fun, funny, and fast, with good choreography. But it was a little like reading a book by Kurt Vonnegut, except for that one chapter in the middle where Kurt was sick, so his good friend Tom Clancy stepped in to write a chapter for him.
The Oceans 11 comparison is actually extremely apt for how to judge this movie. If you enjoyed the Oceans 11 remake, you’re going to love How You See Me. If you go into the movie looking for something weighty, you won’t find a lot to keep you interested. If you go in looking for cotton candy, you’ll have a great time.
