FILM: Now You See Me

Now You See Me is a drama/comedy film by French director Louis Leterrier, and upon announcement was an initially very attractive film for a couple of reasons. The first is that it features a tremendous ensemble cast, including Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman, and the second is its original and unique story idea. The film concerns a group of four magicians of various styles banding together to use their illusionary tricks on a large scale, usually to commit robbery. It is an intriguing premise, and since seeing the trailer I’ve been very interested in the final result.

The film follows four professional magicians - a slight-of-hand artist, a mentalist, an escapist, and a street magician - who are called together by an anonymous benefactor for mysterious reasons. A year later, they are shown performing a collaborative theater-style magic act in a stadium setting, whereupon they proceed to rob a French bank from the stage in Las Vegas. From there, the film follows an FBI agent and his assistant in their efforts to find and catch these magicians and hold them accountable for their crimes - which, given the nature of illusionism, one can imagine would be problematic. The concept is very entertaining for the aforementioned reasons. Watching a high-strung FBI agent chasing clever and subversive illusionists to no avail is a very gratifying and amusing experience.

Now You See Me places enough emphasis on humour to be labelled at least partially comedy, in my opinion, and is also actually genuinely funny in that regard. There are also enough sincere moments for it to be labelled either an action or a drama; regardless, the film is both humorous and sincere and, above all, convincing for the most part. Now You See Me has a unique overarching premise and plot, but is distinctly a character focussed film, with the primary focus being the various characters and interactions between them. Each character is well written and well defined enough to be both likable and flawed, and as a result, all characters feel plausible and alive, which gives true weight to the story. Generally, it’s a difficult thing to do with so many different characters, but Now You See Me manages to pull it off remarkably, giving each individual enough screen time to establish exactly who they are, but without clogging the script with excessive backstory.

There is a technique oft used in screenwriting, which I believe is generally successful in good characterisation, and that is the use of inconsequential, banal banter between characters. The incidental quips between various individuals in the film, excluding expositional dialogue, give glimpses into the person’s true self, and their personality begins to unravel. Often it seems these minor quips are used primarily for comic relief, but with due consideration to who says what, to whom, when, and in what context, it can be used to breathe life into the characters in a remarkably profound way. This is true because it resembles the kind of banal banter real people engage in in real life conversations, and it’s something human audiences can relate to. We begin to see how the characters on screen are similar and dissimilar to ourselves, and others we know, and it gives us an accurate frame of reference when we try to understand who these people are. Films with more comedic leanings often accomplish this to a greater extent than more serious films, as their entire aim is to score laughs, and with these kinds of humorous one-liners they show us more about the true personality of these characters, inadvertently or otherwise. It’s something Now You See Me does quite well, managing to be simultaneously funny and real, and this is bolstered by the aforementioned all-star cast, with a line up of either great or at least decent actors.

Indeed, sometimes all it takes for a film to be enjoyable is to have good actors we enjoy watching perform at their best, and that could be enough for this film. But unfortunately, it is not entirely the case.

Where Now You See Me falls down drastically is in plot development, particularly in the latter half. Over time, it is revealed that the elaborate schemes and tricks preformed by the quartet (who are known as the “Four Horsemen”) are a series of tests and trials so the four can “prove their worth” and join a secret society of magicians (cf. Illuminati). It turns out their work was little more than elaborate instructions which they had to follow to the letter for this entire scheme to work. As a plot point, it merely serves to undermine the implied genius of each character, as they were just following orders the entire time, and the very existence of a secret society of magicians to me seems silly. Additionally, everything is over-exaggerated to the point of absurdity, which doesn’t do any favours for the plausibility of the events; things glowing blue when “magic” is acted on them, over-elaborate stage props, stifled and cringeworthy speeches from the Four Horsemen etc. These elements do little more than make the entire experience seem surreal and strange, and it somewhat undermines the idea that these “magic tricks” are mere illusions of magic, if everything is glowing with an eerie blue supernatural luminescence. My point is that the visual style reeks of style over substance, with the excessive reliance on CGI making everything seem far too much like surreal science fiction or fantasy, and there’s almost no subtlety in the film whatsoever. A more subtle exploration of the dynamics of the magic tricks, with more organic visual effects, would have been more effective.

Despite the needlessly elaborate plot, Now You See Me is still decent, and has great strengths in other areas. Part of the central concept is the idea that all the magic tricks shown are merely  exercises in deception - this is explicitly stated many times by the characters. What’s remarkable is how it manages to fool us, the audience, with many of the tricks apparently supernatural, and left unexplained until a recount of the events later on, almost as though the film is playing a theoretical trick on its audience. It’s a neat touch how there is a logical explanation for everything. The genius of the film comes out in the illustration of the aforementioned concept concerning deception and red herrings to fool audiences, as part of the overall mystery is regarding who brought these four magicians together in the first place. The film deliberately draws your attention to several suspects - Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, and even the FBI agent’s assistant, played by Mélanie Laurent. These are successful distractions from the truth, when it is revealed to be the FBI agent himself who is the puppeteer. In discussing the dynamic of illusionism, the film illustrates itself how these kinds of psychological tricks are played on audiences, on a vastly different level. It involves a small amount of fourth-wall leaning to get there, but it’s a great touch.

Perhaps calling it “genius” is too generous, but Now You See Me is certainly a clever film. Despite the various plot issues, it has a solid script to fall back on, which is more than I can say for most recent releases,  and is genuinely funny. And if that’s not enough, there are at least some great actors who are entertaining to watch - incidentally, Michael Caine makes a great villainous character. But that aside, overall Now You See Me is little more than a slightly above-average comedic drama. As a character focussed film, it’s well written with nicely rounded characters, but it hardly stands out in any regard, and dependence on CGI once again rears its ugly head to the detriment of yet another film. It’s a fascinating and entertaining experience, and a film I enjoyed a lot, but it's unexceptional.