Now You See Me

Though Now You See Me tries to give the impression of being a clever and sophisticated crime-thriller with illusionists, it is actually a rather dull and half-baked tale full of holes, narrative nonsense and moronic twists dressed up in a superficially attractive and maximally spectacular coat in the form of action-oriented editing, flashy visuals, a lot of famous actors and thumping music, which is apparently meant to lull viewers to sleep so that they don’t start thinking about the plot. Of course, it would perhaps be possible to make an entertaining and high-quality film about how four extravagant showmen commit entirely absurd robberies and disguise them as magic shows. But then it wouldn’t have been possible for the plot of Now You See Me to include a completely serious storyline involving a Secret Service who is trying to investigate their case in a factual way and the character of the expert on magic who tries to somehow logically explain the bizarre illusions to him, but ends up explaining them in a way that would be completely impracticable in real life. The atmosphere of the magic performances is thus completely ruined by the film, because while you can certainly admire the magicians for their nimble hands and the precision of their staging, both of these elements were unfortunately replaced with megalomaniacal computer tricks and editing. Which definitely produces the desired “wow” effect for a brief moment, but it takes a lot away from the believability of the overall magical stylization. (02/20/2021)

I don't want to slag Now You See Me because Leterrier mixed what he could in his pursuit of style and often slipped into unintentional self-parody in his visual realm, but unfortunately it's unavoidable. The magic tricks look nice, the sonorous names sound beautiful and the story built on ten twists and turns in the last ten minutes is a delight here and there, but the tricks can always be explained rationally, the actors have nothing to play with in many cases and the final twist is so contrived and flashy that it hurt my eyes. Besides, how am I supposed to keep my fingers crossed for the fictional thieves when the pair of detectives chasing them are far more likeable? This is not new Ocean’s Eleven, not even by chance. 50% (10/28/2013)

I sat down and let the deception and magic take over and enjoyed it. I really did. It had momentum, it had interesting characters, and I was just waiting to see how it culminated. And it did, beautifully, leaving some viewers slightly dissatisfied. A nice film that managed to surprise me halfway through. I'm curious to see the sequel, hopefully it will be at least as entertaining as this film. (10/05/2014)

"The Con Artists" had the potential to become a truly fantastic film. When it came to the actual magic tricks, it was something that I wanted to see from magicians and, of course, something more. However, as the ending approached and the explanations began, the viewer started to feel that something was rotten beneath the surface. With the conclusion, it all came to light like a startled fish. The film, which had been pretending to be a clever film about magicians, eventually turned into a brutally butchered trick with an ending that simply had to disappoint. There is nothing clever about it anymore; it's all very cheap and simple. It's a shame, a terrible shame, because the journey towards it was good. Sometimes the journey is not enough; sometimes the goal is truly essential. It was here. More: http://www.filmovy-denik.cz/2013/07/podfukari-2013-55.html (07/18/2013)

Such a fast, dynamic, and perfectly deafening ride that I had to struggle to pull out grains of detachment and keep from giving it the highest possible rating. This gang firmly counts on the fact that the audience is willingly letting themselves be led astray, only to later admire the resulting denouement with nothing short of awe. And because Louis Leterrier is a damn skillful puppeteer, I won't let my minor criticisms about the reveal and the slower pace of the second half sound too loudly. (10/07/2013)