Now You See Me: "The closer you look"

Three days after watching 'Now You See Me', I have still had thoughts of both the film and the review in my subconscious memory. Some new ideas have actually come to mind about the film as well as a second thought about the 4.7/5 rating I gave the film originally. 

'Now You See Me' unquestionable had a great cast, from already established faces, to faces you wont soon forget after the seeing the film. The calibre of acting was remarkably high throughout the film from facial reactions, body posture and tone of voice. As with any film, the best quality acting and actors are always wanted and this cast really hit the nail on the head. 

They say "the closer you look, the less you'll see". You don't have to look closely at all to sense the suspense filled, mind twisting conundrum that is the narrative of the film. The plot is an absolute puzzler where the audience is constantly wondering exactly what is going on and when they believe they have got it right, the director (Louis Leterrier), was "seven steps ahead". From cliffhanger to bewilderment, this is not an easy film to crack at all, you'll just have to take it like magic and have faith until the end when all is revealed.  

With an innovate film like this, its impossible to watch the film and not be able to appreciate its cinematography and editing, even if the audience don't really understand the concept of these. Cinematography is the beauty of a shot and how everything looks, while editing is everything from cutting scenes, to adding special effects. This is a film dedicated to magicians and illusionists, so with that in mind, you have to expect outstanding editing. This was definitely the case, whether it be the magic from Daniel, or unique abilities from Merritt, the editing team did not let down the audience. 

There is a very basic rule while making any video for any purpose that has been proven true countless times in the creative industry; you can watch something with good sound and bad quality, but you can't watch something with bad sound and good quality. This of course calls for both a high quality soundtrack and score, as well as image quality especially when targeting a mass cinema audience. Without a doubt the image quality from shot sizes, composition and framing we're excellent in 'Now You See Me', this was pre-expected of course. As for sound however, the soundtrack itself did not echo itself within my mind for days and weeks to come like films such as 'Drive' had once done. During the film I do not recall having any quarrels with the sound of the film so I believe it is safe to assume that the sound was decent to say the very least, but could have been more catchy. 

On another positive note, 'Now You See Me' does offer a very diverse range of characters (in terms of personality). This gives the audience to chance to really pick a favourite and get behind a character who they feel resembles or represents them on the big screen, cinema is a large scale form of identification and escapism, meaning any film must offer an alternative from reality. Just take a look at our four main characters, can you relate to any of them? Or do you prefer the characters played by Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman?

In conclusion, I still would have liked to see maybe one more action scene, the one we had was great and I think one more really could have gotten the audience onto the edge of their seats. Overall, I still stand by my rating of 4.7/5 for these following reasons:

• Amazing plot/storyline.
• Superb acting and cast.
• Overall quality of sound and image.
• Outstanding cinematography and special effects.
• Diverse Character variety. 
• A well blending and fitting, although not remember able sound track.