Now You See Me

Now You See Me is the new heist film starring Jesse Eisenberg, Dave Franco, Woody Harrleson, Isla Fisher, Mark Ruffalo, Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine and focuses on four magicians pulling off a series of heists while climbing to global fame. 

The screening itself was a mystery, as Cineworld billed it as a special "preview" screening, despite it being out in the States at the end of May. The art of misdirection is a constant throughout the film, and we are constantly told, the more you look, the less you see. Apt then, given the amount of ploys and plots twists, that we so crave. Nothing as deep as you might expect, but thats the beauty of the third act. The motives are so simple, you look back and notice all the signs, which shows that this will hold up to repeat viewings. Obviously, the less said about the story, the better.

The characters and actors meanwhile all shine. We have obvious chemistry between Eisenberg and Harrelson, back from their partnership in the excellent non-Rom Zom-Com Zombieland, sans Bill Murray cameo. Eisenberg is the usual arrogant self, played to great delight, with hints of Zuckerberg to him, for instance "Always be the smartest guy in the room" could have been lifted straight from the Social Network. 

Ruffalo has a Banner like quality to him, which makes you realise why Marvel wanted him as the Hulk in the first place, while being able to stay in complete control. Dave is no longer "James' younger brother", or "that guy from Scrubs Season 9" but has stepped out of the shadows, eclipsing his brothers performance as Oz in Sam Raimi's Great and Powerful. 

Often in a magic show the women are solely assistants, but Isla Fisher and Melanie Laurent are not only intelligent, but drive the story along with Laurent's Interpol officer piecing together the clues overlooked by Ruffalo and the FBI.

Special mentions go to Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine. While the marketing of the film could have gone better (Freeman falling asleep mid interview) the two of them lose none of the charm of previous roles, such as as Lucius Fox and Alfred in the Dark Knight franchise.

The effects look magnificant, enchanting and realistic, and while some of the sets are predictable (the initial bank heist for instance), there is humour and warmth to be found throughout.

In conclusion, if you have a choice between Man Of Steel and this, go for Now You See Me. It is wittier, more spectacular and less plot holes, as well as not having an elongated third act.

8.5/10

Man Of Steel

Let's get this out of the way first of all. I am not a Superman fan. In fact, apart from the Dark Knight, I'm barely a DC fan, focusing my graphic novel efforts on the more relate-able Marvel series, or Scott Pilgrim and Kick Ass etc. (this is a post on it's own). So why did I even bother with this film?

Firstly the names. I am a sucker for a Chris Nolan film, even if the Dark Knight Rises only just made my top 5 films of 2012 (but that's another post), and Zack Snyder does decent adaptations, I didn't even care too much about the Squid thing in Watchmen.

So this film is a reboot, akin to the Amazing Spider-man of last year, or Nolan's previous take on a superhero franchise with the Dark Knight trilogy. It charts the story of Kal-El, one of a dying species of Kryptonians, sent by his father to earth before the planet lays dying. Henry Cavill plays the titular character, with Russell Crowe playing his dad Jor-El, and Michael Keaton (Burton's Bruce Wayne) playing adopted dad Jonathan Kent. He is pursued by militant General Zod (Michael Shannon) who wishes to turn earth into a new Krypton, using a codex that Jor put on the same shuttle as Kal.

Almost an all-star cast, with Amy Adams playing love interest Lois Lane, and supporting roles for the likes of Lawrence Fishburne, who takes the J Jonah Jameson style role. It plays on the 'human' side to Superman, who is only referred to by that name once. There is no Kryptonite, the magical rock that is the only thing to weaken Superman, but there is no need, as while no earth bound weaponry can harm him, Zod and crew can certainly do some damage, which is nice, and one of the reasons I try not to bother with Superman in comic or previous film form, he is too powerful.

This is him discovering his powers, with plenty of flashbacks. Clarke (his earth name), is wrestling with his conscience. Should he use his powers, and risk being an outcast, or just let people suffer. The tornado scene, is very powerful in showing Clarke's loss when his Jonathan essentially sacrifices himself to save his son's identity, although I'm not sure if it is as influential as the relationship between say, Peter Parker and uncle Ben.

The human aspects are great, as are the performances, and it would have been easy for Shannon to become a screaming pantomime villain, but his motives are clear. In fact, they are literally in his nature. In fact, if anything I felt he was too tame, and after Benedict Cumberbatch's performance in Star Trek Into Darkness could have been more brutal. As such, as a character he is between the Mandarin and Cumberbatch, cold and calculating, but wanting to do what he feels he needs to.

The last act could have been shortened however. While the action sequences were well choreographed, I felt they went on for too long. The same could be said for the port fight in Iron Man 3, but with that there was just more fun.

The humour was something I felt lacking as well. Superheroes should be fun as well as exciting, or maybe this is just my Marvel background talking, and while the Dark Knight trilogy was meant to be serious and realistic, there were a few witty one liners, mainly from Alfred and Lucius. In this film, they tended to be awkward or seen in the trailer (the whole this is an S sequence), and from watching the Superman in Justice League etc, he is more of a fun guy than Batman, which I didn't feel in this.

A sequel has already been green-lit, and going by some Lex Corp. branded items I think it's a safe bet that Luthor will be the next villain, in the same subtle way as the Joker and Catwoman were teased in Batman Begins and the Dark Knight respectively.

Overall, while I enjoyed the majority of the film, despite not being a big Superman fan, I felt it wasn't the best superhero film so far this year (Iron Man 3) nor the best Sci-Fi film (Star Trek Into Darkness). That said, it is worth watching on the big screen, although the 3D was barely noticeable, and a hopefully the quality will be kept up for future instalments.

7/10

This film was viewed in normal 3D, rather than IMAX

Introduction

So I've been wanting to start up blogging again properly for a while (not counting the two I had to write for A Level media). I was lead writer and admin for the now defunct WhichWayGaming, which unfortunately we (me and video games You-player James "Parky105" Parker) didn't re-buy the domain name and now it hosts one sole review, or news post. Then I got busy, having to keep up with A Level media and then work, but finding Twitter wasn't enough to post accurate reviews. So after watching "Man Of Steel" I thought I would start up again. Hopefully they will be coherent or useful in deciding whether a film is worth watching.