Francoise

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I saw Now You See Me, the magic movie a while ago. Surprisingly the theatre was packed – and I say surprisingly because the trailer reveals almost nothing about the plot of the film besides the act of magicians handing out free money to the audience. Perhaps this audience was expecting this feat to come to life. 

In the movie-going experience, it is expected for the audience to continually guess the ending: the final ta-da. Don’t look for it, though. The ending is not worth the effort. For all the guessing - all the gambling that the ending will justify the means – there’s a lot missing. The flaws, like a magic trick, show more and more the longer you watch the film. What seems to be the tagline (don’t look closely) makes a lot of sense in a metaphysical way. Don’t look closely in the film or else you’ll want your money back.

Overall, the film is entertaining; a good coming of attractions for the summer. However, the ending depletes the qualities of the rest of the film. There is that ultimate question of whether the magic is real, or simply illusionary. I even wondered if it was going to play the science and clones card like The Prestige had played. All in all, no cards were played. Now You See Me shuffles and deals, but in the end, it was not my card.

As always there is the question of whether the singular female character has any importance in the film’s content or if she is simply there to balance out the masculinity. One thing is for sure; Isla Fisher had great style in the film.

It is one thing to compliment a woman on how she can rock gloves during every season, and it is another to compliment the way her hips swing when she walks in heels. What Isla Fisher’s character does is run in heels. This has been done, but what is implied in the film – yet not spoken – is that she gets away with her schemes. How do criminal, female characters seriously not get caught?