Blu-ray Review - Now You See Me: Extended Edition

One of this year's biggest summer movies, Now You See Me, will be available for Digital Download on August 30th and it will be arriving on Blu-ray Combo Pack (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Digital HD UltraViolet), DVD + Digital UltraViolet, Video on Demand and Pay-Per-View on September 3, 2013. The film has a star-studded cast featuring Jesse Eisenberg (Zombieland), Mark Ruffalo (The Avengers), Woody Harrelson (Zombieland), Isla Fisher (The Great Gatsby), Dave Franco (21 Jump Street), Michael Caine (Dark Knight Trilogy) and Morgan Freeman (Dark Knight Trilogy). The Extended Director's Cut with sixteen minutes of never-before-seen-footage and the original theatrical will be featured on the Blu-ray along with the special features, Audio Commentary by producer Bobby Cohen and director Louis Leterrier (theatrical version only), "Now You See Me Revealed" featurette, "A Brief History of Magic" featurette (Blu-ray only) and deleted scenes (Blu-ray only).

From left to right: Dave Franco ("Jack Wilder," left), Jesse Eisenberg ("J. Daniel Atlas," left center), Isla Fisher ("Henley Reeves," center) and Woody Harrelson ("Merritt McKinney," right) star in Summit Entertainment's, a LIONSGATE company, NOW YOU SEE ME.

Four magicians, J. Daniel Atlas (Eisenberg), Merritt McKinney (Harrelson), Henley Reeves (Fisher), and Jack Wilder (Franco) are mysteriously summoned to become a magic super-group called The Four Horsemen by the rich Arthur Tressler (Cain). During a magic show in Las Vegas, the four amazes the audiences by remotely robbing a bank in Paris, which quickly gets the attention of FBI Agent Dylan Rhoads (Ruffalo) and his Interpol detective Alma Dray (Laurent); though they have know proof how the magicians robbed the bank.

Dave Franco ("Jack Wilder")

The Four Horseman's continues on with their next show by exposing a white-collar crook and transferring his
millions into the audiences' bank accounts. Agent Rhoads and his partner are still baffled on how they stole the money. With no other choice, Agent Rhoads asks the famed magic debunker Thaddeus Bradley to help him outthink The Four Horsemen, who may or may not be acting alone in the crime sprees.

In a cross between The Prestige and Ocean's Eleven comes the mystery heist Now You See Me which dazzled theatre goers during the summer. I'm not the biggest fan of heist or magician films, but the blend of the two works well for this film. With such a huge cast there is not enough time to give any kind of character development, except for Mark Ruffalo's character, Agent Dylan Rhoads. I would have liked to seen more events occurring in between the magic shows with the Four Horsemen (besides for the interrogation), which might of gave more depth to them, but instead they come out a little one-dimensional. The entire cast gave great performances and the film's pacing and editing is perfect, which I thought was odd considering it is coming from director Louis Leterrier who directed the horrible Clash of the Titans. I thought I would be bored watching the film, but thanks to a few clever twists and turns, I was surprisingly entertained, though there were a few plot-holes left unanswered.

The Blu-ray has both the theatrical version and the extended one, which is actually ten minutes longer (not counting the deleted scenes). The special features seemed to be lacking with only two featurettes. There are no commentaries or features on the DVD, only the theatrical version is included on it.

I thought the movie itself was entertaining and one of the better movies I have seen this year. If you are into special features, then you might be disappointed with the Blu-ray and DVD, though fans of the movie will enjoy the Extended Edition.

*Disclaimer - I received a complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.