Now You See Me

Did you know that Harry Houdini made movies?  Well, he did.  He starred in several silent movies that usually involved adventures requiring daring escapes.  They're a little hokey but well worth seeking out. 

I like magic.  I have a decent collection of illusionary trinkets, card packs, and how-to books.  I was hypnotized by those "secrets revealed" magic specials on TV.  Making a movie about magic and magicians is right up my alley.  So why did "Now You See Me" leave me cold?

The story concerns four people from different aspects of magic.  There's a mentalist, a sleight of hand master, an escape artist, and a stage magician.  They are brought together by a mysterious organization and begin a magic-themed crime spree as a part of this organization's hazing ritual.  All the while, they are being pursued by a couple dedicated cops and a man who exposes the secrets of magic.

I really liked the opening 15-20 minutes when we get to meet the magicians and see how they perform and behave.  My big issue is that once they all get together, the magic stops.  Seriously.  No more magic.  I understand that magic tricks are illusions that are meant to appear as if the impossible happened.  But none of what they do really counts as illusions either.  By that logic, "Ocean's Eleven" is a movie about magicians.  However, the wild, complicated plans in standard heist movies usually seem fairly plausible even if the weakness in the bank/safe/fortress/etc. is specifically written to allow for the wild, complicated plan.  In "Now You See Me," nothing is plausible.  Whenever the "how-they-did-it" flashbacks happened, I was left baffled.  It's supposed to show how mundane (and clever) the actual execution was, but instead it feels like actual magic.  Like wizards and warlocks-style magic.  The way they execute every crime is impossible.  This movie required a greater suspension of disbelief than I'm capable of giving.

Also, I know that after they are drawn together by the mysterious organization, The Eye, they disappear for a year.  Apparently during that time, Jessie Eisenberg and Isla Fischer were training to be world class jewel thieves/cat burglars.  Dave Franco became a ninja and Woody Harrelson learned how to instantly hypnotize anyone to do anything.  Eisenberg and Fischer's new skills are strange but didn't come off any dumber than the rest of the movie.  It's the newfound talents of Franco and Harrelson that really bothered me. 

At one point, Dave Franco is left behind by the others to destroy evidence and create a distraction allowing his partners to get away.  Apparently, they knew that, in just one year, Franco became the equivalent of eight Jet Li's.  He combines gymnastics, parkour, kung fu, pickpocketing, and instantaneous handcuff lock picking (and I thought Fischer was supposed to be the escape artist) to escape and beat the hell out of several armed police officers.  To top it all off, we also find out that he can flawlessly imitate anyone's voice (in this case Mark Ruffalo's intrepid FBI agent).  He uses this to issue orders to a S.W.A.T. unit over a walkie talkie.  It's like when little kids play superheroes and one kid keeps adding more powers to his arsenal until it's not fun anymore.

As for Woody Harrelson's super-hypnosis, it's used too much.  And by too much, I mean that it's used to explain away everything.  How did they get past the guards?  Hypnosis.  Why were there no witnesses?  Hypnosis.  Why did you let them get away?  Hypnosis.  I watched Danny Boyle's "Trance" not too long ago which is an entire movie about hypnosis and it still has less hypnosis than "Now You See Me."  But it's whatever nonsense the movie can throw out for "thrills" and "twists."

And speaking of twists, I sat in the theater dreading the ending.  I won't spoil the big, final twist.  I will say that I figured it out very early into the run time and just kept hoping I was wrong.  But I wasn't.  I never am.  As I said, I won't spoil it but I'll give you a clue straight out of Shakespeare: "The lady doth protest too much, methinks."

But that's not the worst part of the ending.  It's the awful, shoehorned romance between Mark Ruffalo's FBI agent and Mélanie Laurent's Interpol agent.  They are awful to each other and for each other.  Never during the course of the film does a single moment exist where any sort of romantic spark begins.  But right at the end, just before the credits, they're making out and holding hands and talking about the future together.  I wish I could say it's the most awkward, out-of-place, and unearned romance of the summer, but "Man of Steel" gets that honor. 

"Now You See Me" is not a good movie.  I shouldn't have expected much from a director like Louis Leterrier, the man who made "Transporter 2" and the "Clash of the Titans" remake.  If someone tries to get you to watch this, you should disappear (preferably in a puff of smoke).

3 out of 10