Now You See Me

Now I've Seen Now You See Me. Which btw is a very strange name. 

So NYSM is a caper film, which means expect antics and stunts along the lines of Ocean's 11, the Heist and so on. Except, this time it's with magic. Sorta.

So, NYSM is really about a bunch of magicians who end up dazzling the world with their magic tricks, while plotting out a series of very elaborate thefts. After the first theft, the FBI places them under arrest but eventually has to let them go due to lack of evidence. Which again, doesn't make sense because post 9/11 USA seems like the type of place which could just hold them indefinitely. Anyway, the FBI get their lead investigator; the Incredible Hulk, to put them under surveillance and it's a race between him and the criminals to see if he can stop them before they finish with their big finale. Or is it?

Overall, I enjoyed the film but felt it was way too obvious what happened in the end, which sort of detracted from the enjoyment of the film. Also, there are just too many contrivances in the movie which sort of annoy me as well because they keep screwing with my suspension of disbelief. First of all, robbing an armored truck because they were already inside it. Yeah...because somehow guards don't check for these kind of things. Secondly, no security cameras inside the vault? Really? Not to mention the fact that no one reported the armored truck being robbed. Thirdly, htf did they transfer all the money from France to LA after robbing the truck? 

Then there's their second caper. So I'm supposed to believe a multimillionaire has no better security on his online banking account than 'what is the name of your first pet' and so on? And no one who monitors his funds either? Really? How did they even manage to pick all the audience members? Is this some charity event? How did they manage to pick audience members who were all slighted by the same insurance company. And wtf is a person who only has 652USD in her account doing attending an expensive magic show? Also, wtf is the magical appearing numbers so similar to the audiences own handwritten numbers? How would they know where the audience would write their bank account totals? It's so convenient that they left this giant gap between the front and their bank account totals so they could fill it with extra numbers. Also, cellphones do NOT automatically tell you when your bank account is being updated. 

Third, why would the magicians even bother doing this? They get nothing out of it. Except for being international fugitives in exchange for joining some lousy secret fraternity. It's like they have no lifes or backgrounds beyond being 'magician'. 

And as for the ending of the film...Well, let's put it this way, it was fairly obvious from a mile away. I pretty much knew who it was 1/2 way in the movie. A few things to keep in mind if you haven't watched but have read this review and want to be able to guess who it is

1. There is a 5th party involved. We know this from the opening
2. We never see the 5th party directly until the end, but he's the one directing everything; assumed by everyone in the movie
3. Some of their tricks are near impossible to pull off without the help of a 5th party
4. Who is in the BEST position to help them

It's pretty obvious once you know that. And also, the reasons why the 5th party is helping them is also pretty obvious due to various clues dropped throughout the show. 

In the end, decent film but crappy characters. I never really empathized with any of them because in the end, they were breaking the law and pretty much just bring common criminals for no reason other than the fact they had nothing better to do. Normal people do not wake up one day and go 'hmm, this mysterious person is going to give me detailed instructions on how to rob some banks, some millionaire, let me go do it'. Criminals do that. Actually, sociopaths do that.