Now You See Me

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. (07/10/2013)

Compared to The Prestige, it looks like an opening act created by art school students, and I don’t consider Nolan’s highly-praised opus to be great. Unfortunately, Now You See Me plods along from the very first moment, and while there are a bunch of good actors and they're well cast, it's a typical consumer Hollywood commercial from start to finish without a shred of invention. And when, in the course of the film, you discover that there's going to be some devilish subterfuge and the magic tricks are not solved by wit and ingenuity, but by visual effects, something is wrong. So average for the entertaining ensemble of stars and its brisk pace. (05/09/2016)

"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 (18/07/2013)

A very complicated, but at the same time quite imaginative story. And the actors are the icing on the cake. They exuded that kind of a magician’s arrogance and cunning with which their idea grew and fell. But I must say that it wasn’t because of all this that I gave this movie four stars. If that was all the movie had, I would have settled on two. I was totally confused by the story. I, however, enjoyed the way this film was made. The director clearly put a lot of effort into this, to show this project was a dream come true for him. But the best and most beautiful thing about this movie was Mélanie Laurent. I could watch her all day. And if the magicians had chosen her for the disappearing act, I would’ve written an indignant letter all the way to Hollywood, demanding an explanation. Fortunately, she showed all of her French elegance and grace to my complete satisfaction. It’s evident that the director, who is also French, is aware of Melánie’s charm. So even though the movie has its flaws, it also deserves praise. As a result, I was satisfied and now I’m looking forward to a sequel. (13/12/2013)

Overwrought and contrived crap - sometimes I'm amazed at how screenwriters are able to ruin their own promising idea. The final half hour of Now You See Me in particular was downright miserable and I probably won't watch it again. The film is, for me, another piece in the puzzle of "Anything with Michael Caine in it". The other actors (including Morgan Freeman) are barely worth mentioning. Two stars and a bit for the (brisk, but totally unnecessary) action scene. (28/03/2014)