介绍:
"The closer you look, the less you'll see." The magicians reiterated this magic sentence in director Louis Leterrier's caper thriller, "Now You See Me." The magicians' audiences are warned of the performers' prowess, but still miss the critical movement every time.
So is the same with Chinese moviegoers in front of the big screen. While the director tries desperately to convince audiences that magic shows are important because they make people happy, the majority of Chinese audiences are preoccupied with the logic of the story and its many loopholes.
Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher and Dave Franco play four street magicians summoned by an anonymous person to prepare and perform a series of special magic shows. These involve robbing a bank, cheating a billionaire sponsor of all his fortune and removing all cash from a heavily guarded safe company. Morgan Freeman is an ex-magician who now seeks to expose their tricks. Mark Ruffalo and Melanie Laurent represent the authorities who are hot on their tails.
Two of the "Four Horsemen," Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson, are able to leave an impression with their on-screen performances; the rest are mostly obliterated by the running storyline. Still, viewers are allowed to feast their eyes on spectacular magic shows, one after another.
However, if you examine the story more closely, the second half of the movie is not as compelling as one would imagine based on its grand opening. While the magicians are being pursued by police, when they do get the time to perform, the shows are accomplished under menacing circumstances and the viewers can hardly enjoy the glamour of the illusion like they did in the opening scene. It just seems the director has shifted his hitherto pious attention on the magic tricks to the prolonged chase, which leads to nowhere.
Despite the incoherent focus, the script by Ed Solomon, Boaz Yakin and Edward Ricourt still shows great promise. The secret of each show is revealed right after the presentation, yet the audience is still intrigued, with anticipation for more. Meanwhile, they are keeping their eyes sharp and exercising their brains, hoping to uncover how the characters pull off each trick. Compared to other movies currently available in Chinese cinemas, "Now You See Me" is much more attractive and its audience much more willing to engage.
On a scale from one to ten, "Now You See Me" deserves a six.
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