This is by no means a great movie but it is however very entertaining and the pacing of the movie zips by in quick steps. This is also one of those movies that dove tails away from any form of characterization or character development but is more concerned with how bright and smart it thinks it is. Truthfully it's not as smart or brilliant as it thinks it is, which is fine because the true stars of this movie are the cast. They make this film work in ways the writer and director never would have thought possible. They are the ones who bring zip and zang to the characters. They are ones that make the scenes come together, when they are on screen together. It is them that makes this film work, without them this would be a lifeless film surfing the waves of intellect it thinks it has.
I've always said good character actors are much better than over paid actors and I would hire them in a heart beat instead of the actors that seem content to hog 40-50% of a films budget. This film just proves that fact in about every scene these actors are in. These are not actors that demand huge amounts of money to be in a film but these are actors who can actually act and command screen time when they are in a scene. Don't get me wrong there is an actual story here about magicians, over-the-top set pieces (that are really over-the-top but don't feel forced in my opinion, as they seem comfortably rested among the actors), and some kind of hidden magician club that the story line only seems concerned with as the movie starts to wind up.
But ultimately who cares? The cast is the reason to see this movie. Woody Harrison is as funny as ever. When you pair him with Jesse Eisenberg, you kind of a sort of sequel to Zombieland. Eisenberg seems content to keep doing riffs on his Social Network role and Zombieland role, which is fine with me because he does it so well and for some reason I don't mind. Morgan Freeman does what he always does making any film he's in better just by him being in it. Isla Fisher is as hot as ever, not coming anywhere near her scene stealing self in Wedding Crashers, but then again who cares because she's hot. Michale Cain, is well Michael Cain, he just gets better with age and as Hollywood seems so content to forcing these young actors on the public, having Cain and Freeman in a the same movie only proves how helpless these new actors are. They suck. I think the stand out person in the movie is Mark Ruffalo who, in my opinion, steals the movie as all of my sympathy was swayed towards him and Ruffalo only helped this by just being a good actor. He seems to only get better as the years gone on in everything I see him. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, his Bruce Banner was amazing in the Avengers as he matched every scene he was in with Robert Downey, Jr's Tony Stark and he didn't have the insane awesome one liners to fall back on.
Well that's about it, watch it for the actors and be a little amused by the somewhat story line.
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