Now You See Me : Film Review

Just last month I was at my local cinema waiting to watch a wonderful Robert DeNiro and saw an advert for a intriguing new piece of film called Now You See Me.  I'd been interested in the concept and practically counted down the days until it finally hit UK cinemas, and finally my time came to see it. 

With one of the largest star-studded cast, stars such as Michael Caine, Jesse Eisenberg of The Social Network fame, budding newcomer Dave Franco, the timeless Morgan Freeman, and various other wonderful cast members, all took to the stage upon the screen to perform one of the greatest cinematic illusions I've ever seen. 

Set across 3 different US states to perform 3 different tricks, The Four Horsemen magicians take Las Vegas and the authorities by storm with deceit and slide of hand, to perform a bank robbery 5000 miles away in Paris, rewarding their personally chosen audience members with the money. 3 million Euro of it. 

With Hulk star Mark Ruffalo on their case as an FBI detective, we follow the story through both sides of the magic; the disbelief and the detailed planning. 

Each scene pulled a new twist from up their sleeves and pushed me back into my belief in magic.. where the magic itself is believing. The final twist concluded what I felt throughout the full 2 hours, that this is truly glorious, gripping, and utterly groundbreaking. 

Film Review : The Purge

For a long time now I've been haunted by The Purge's intriguing concept and dramatic trailer, and finally decided myself to give it a try, after a lot of mixed views on the film.

As an absolute fanatic for a twisting plot in the horror genre I really picked up on this unique storyline and became really interested - I'm not one for needless gore in a film, it's got to keep me gripped. For me, The Purge accomplished this at various times throughout the film; I was invested in thinking "what would I do?"

With the Sandin family on lockdown for the annual Purge, a night of terror and destruction to "cleanse" the community and "sacrifice" its members, we witness the unfolding events as their young son Charlie shows compassion to a wounded outsider, releasing the bolts from the doors and allowing him shelter. Rhys Wakefield portrays the sinister smiler; a leader of a pro-purge group, seeking the sacrifice of the sheltered homeless man the family unconsciously helped. His calm nature makes him only the more terrifying in his quest to hunt down the inhabitants of the Sandin home; threatening and taking action against any and all that get in his way.

While I enjoyed the acting within the film, the anti-climactic nature of many scenes seemed too obvious for such a unique concept; surely with such a twist in film-making, there should be an equal twist in the end to leave us feeling shocked and in awe of such a ground-breaking piece. Let's be honest here; in a film where violence and murder is legal, raise your hand if you think at least 3 characters are going to be violently killed? Well then, you'd be right.
While I believed in the idea of the story, I wasn't sure where it could be taken creatively, and in that sense, I don't think it succeeded in surprising me; I expected violence, death and destruction, but there was no depth to the characters, and witnessing their downfall did not grab at my heartstrings or shock me at all.

The ending to The Purge not only allowed a sense of closure to the evening's events, we are also left hanging in the suspense of a sequel. How will the homeless hostage fair in the next annual Purge as he walks off into the sunrise? Will the Sandin family finally break and themselves Purge? Many unanswered questions are left in the balance with the closing scene, and despite various negative parts, I hope to see them resolved in a second production.