About Me
On Wednesday 25 December 2013
New years is almost here and I'm doing a post marathon before 2013 ends! This is the second post and yet another movie review. For your information, this film is not in my 'must watch' film's list and this is the first review of such titles for 2013! Wow! I need to update more! So, let's move on to the review!
Using the word hate is something I'd try to avoid when writing a review or even when I'm commenting on any films. I try to remind myself that the filmmakers, the fans of the film and my opinion should be justified through constructive criticism. After watching this film, I've tried my best for the past few months to find the proper words to express my feelings for this work of fiction. Here's what I can come up with:
Generalized
I sense an ambition within the story that is trying to be build; an emotion is trying to be created. Possibly, that same emotion when you're watching Christopher Nolan's Inception. No, that's not fair; to compare and overshadow a film with another. Perhaps, the right way to describe it is that they're trying to create that awesome feeling when you've been blown away with the plot twist. Yes, that's it and that's what I sensed from the start to the end of the film. The problem is that too much it was used and without much care of the emotional developments. One amazing magic trick to the next and we don't see good character developments except for this very stressful Mark Ruffalo. Not to mention that some of those 'illusions' were impossible. I was confused. Is this a movie about real magic or magic tricks? The ambition of taking 'advantage' of mind blowing plot twist seriously overshadowed the possibility of a great story and I do sense a lot of great story opportunities.
Like the word 'generalized' suggest, it's the sad and annoying notion that we must add more action and sassy to make it watchable for the whole audience. Admitting that it works is one thing but seeing it being abused to a point where half baked films are produced is another. This film, like Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, is a victim to the explosive box office generalization of brawn over brains.
The possibilities
This is the good part of the film but bear in mind that I'm pointing out what could have been and not the existing positive aspects of the film. I love the cast but they were not used to the max. For goodness's sake, it's Morgan Freeman, Michael Cane, Mark Ruffalo and Melanie Laurent! I am a fan of Mark since he's been in one of my all time favorite films. I've seen Melanie Laurent from the Inglorious Bastards. She's very stunning-hehehe-and it's good to see her being in mainstream films again. Don't get me started on Freeman and Cane! They're legends; enough said.
Cast aside, what bugs me the most is the ambitions of the main character and the movie title. At first, I thought that Jesse Eisenberg was the main character but I don't see him being highlighted well--heck, maybe not at all! We kept seeing a very stressful and clumsy Mark Ruffalo; he hates the four horsemen and is now suddenly in love with Melanie Laurent. Poof! Spoiler Alert! It turns out that he was the mastermind and in fact, he was the main character all along.
....what the heck?!
So, now I finally 'see' the main character/mastermind? This is just my assumption and if I'm wrong just--please, tell me. So, uh, what is this? An attempt to break the basic plot structure? Make no mistakes, I have no problem with such attempts, it's intriguing and admirable but all efforts of exploring more with the concept just failed. Why? Because of what I've stated before; being too generalized. Breaking the plot structure is no easy task, folks. And trying to make it box office worthy is another hard thing all together. Upon writing this, maybe this is the main reason why I find it very hard for me to love this film. It's frustrating that most of my friends loved it and bashed me for not having the same opinion. Was I being too harsh with my comments? Yes, so that's why I'm trying to state my words constructively as to why I have such feelings for this film.
Tricking the audience that the antagonist is actually the protagonist. It sounds familiar but I'm not sure where I've seen it before. So, this was the attempt I sensed in the film which was, sadly, not explored to the max.
The verdict
In all honesty, I did not had a good time watching this film. A rating of three out of five is the number I'd usually go for any simple but not bombastic films. In this case, I have to give it lower for being a victim of the typical box office formula and for not exploring the antagonist and protagonist concept very well. Now you see me earns a
2/5.
Good review. I saw this movie a few months ago, but I still remember how I was bashing it when I was leaving the theater. I was honestly surprised at how so many people said it was good. You could argue that perhaps with that hype of positive peer review, along with a star-studded cast who have had a remarkable history of acting gigs, I had really high expectations for the film. And you'd be right.
ReplyDeleteBut I was let down. So let down.
I deeply agree with you about the frustratingly shallow character development of each magician. They seemed to have just been thrown together with almost no background and no motivation, apart from what's up on the surface. It leaves the characters one dimensional and hence unlovable to audience members like me who are actually trying to build emotional relationships with them to enjoy the film more. Having nothing to relate to them, even if it was cliche, like a dead family member or an unfulfilled childhood dream of some sort, leaves them as stale and lifeless as the visual effects in the film:
"You're pretty on the outside and that's nice, but we're not gonna try to figure you out."
I have no problem with the plot twist, really. Mark Ruffalo being the mastermind behind everything was a pretty cool surprise to me (albeit my sister guessed it was him somewhere in the middle of the film, I think), but like you, I don't think it was executed well. I'm not sure why. Maybe it was because Morgan Freeman ended up looking like a fool at the end and I'm his fan, lol jk.
The entire plot was pretty dried up in favour of flashy effects, like you said, which makes it the fast-food category of movies. This is not a thinking man's film.