Now You See Me (2013)

Alright, Now You See Me, you got me.

I've seen The Prestige; I've been trained. When Morgan Freeman assured Michael Caine (who really ought to have known better) that this was all just a distraction for the main event, I thought I knew what he meant. So imagine my surprise when the prestige turned out to be . . .

[Spoiler-adjacent. I'm not going to talk about it any specifics, but I thought I'd give you the heads up anyway].

Bupkis.

Right up until the bubkis, I was into it. Not so much the maybe-flirtation between Jesse Eisenberg and Isla Fisher (who cares?). Not so much the twirling-whirling non-stop camera (though that in itself was a great distraction). Not so much the . . . did Mark Ruffalo have a fake tan in this? I don't think I can deal with a tanned buffalo, you guys.

Obviously I was into Mélanie Laurent because I love her, and I love how smart and funny she gets to be in this even though her character gets no explanation at any point. Just none, whatsoever. I wasn't even aware of her character being named at any point in the script.

And no one thinks, "faith can move mountains" is a French saying, right?

So that right up until. The movie moves along at an excellent clip, and all the performances are keyed at exactly the right level -- it's all levity and fun and exploration and adventure. Which is exactly what you want, so there's no faulting the movie there.

And then the bupkis. I don't know. I expect more from a prestige. It's odd because the movie does exactly what it tells you it's going to do, so it's a little unfair of me to feel let down by it. But I do. Randomly disappearing and reappearing on the same building, then going to the park just doesn't have the same ring to it.

Of course, that isn't the prestige, not exactly, but getting more exact would require 1) spoilers and 2) exposition, which this movie is seriously lacking. Which is something I never thought I'd write. But if you are going to make a point about how these guys are so good at magic that they are ready for the next level, you really ought to do a little more table setting to show that they actually are, you know, at the top of their game.

Ah, well. At least now I have the sight of Common miming a violin solo.

Wait, why is Henley always wearing gloves? No, no, I am not going to do this.