Now You See Me...

There’s something special about magic that spontaneously brings the best out of you – expectation, hope, desire, sometimes even faith or belief. Those are some powerful emotions. In fact, so powerful that when it comes to magic, they seem to play right into a magician's hands and before you know it, while both your eyes are wide open, you’ve set yourself up for deception. Yes sir, magic is the art of creating visual paradox and the closer you look, the less you will see.

In ‘Now You See Me’, Jesse Eisenberg is ‘The Showman’, Woody Harrelson is ‘The Mentalist’, Isla Fisher plays ‘The Escape Artist’ and Dave Franco is ‘The Sleight’, four randomly selected magicians who corroborate their skills and expertise to form one definitive magic act known as ‘The Four Horsemen’. Apart from them being four, no one knows why this particular name, but to some of the victims of their magical acts they are indeed nothing short of an apocalyptic nightmare.  

When they are recruited to become the next hottest act to hit Las Vegas, our masters of illusion are given the blueprint to a magical act so immense they will do absolutely anything to see it through, even rob a bank if they have to. But with so many tricks up everyone’s sleeve, who is to know if a bank actually does get robbed? More importantly, who is to say it was them, even the FBI is uncertain and without having any actual proof, our Horsemen soon have their audience cheering and rooting again for some more mind-blowing acts of craftiness.  

Success unfortunately often attracts more enemies than friends and it’s usually someone from within your own ranks.  Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman) is a former illusionest himself, but nowadays he exposes his former kind, exactly what the Horsemen don’t need, not with the law breathing down their necks and all. 

 

Apparently, hell hath no fury like an illusionist scorned and in conjunction with the group’s former benefactor, Arthur Tressler (Michael Caine), they soon find themselves in all sorts of trouble.

The opening scenes of ‘Now You See Me’ are well shot and as viewer, you are instantly drawn into the story of the four different characters and their various illusionist crafts. The pace at which it unravels is fast and manages to keep one’s attention on what is happening next, aided of course by some impressive magical acts. The energy that is injected into each of the actors’ performances is sound and believable, adding to a story that comes together really well.

Perhaps not the best movie ever with a plot that feels slightly watered down occasionally, but it’s loaded with truly entertaining moments making it fun to watch nonetheless. 

I'm only getting started boytjie!

Sharlto Copley is definitely the new villain on the block. After he mesmerised us with his performance as Wikus Van Der Merwe in Neill Blomkamp’s District 9, our local boytjie yet again gives the ‘ous’ stick in Hollywood, this time as ‘Agent Kruger’, a sleeper agent back on Earth operating on behalf of the government of the newly formed terra-planet: Elysium.

The intensity with which he portrays his character is nothing short of brilliant and never before have the words ‘kak’ and ‘lekker’ sounded this good in a movie. As for the accent for his character, he chose one originating from the south of Jo’burg. 

Usually what we hear in cinemas when it comes to South Africa is English spoken with an Afrikaans accent. This time it’s the other way around. Not only is his character one of the meanest and fearsome mercenary-like agents ever, he also commands heaps of presence, at times unintentionally upstaging his fellow cast members, especially Jodie Foster during one of their scenes together.

The story of Elysium centers around an interesting concept. More than ever before our world is being divided between the classes and lifestyles of rich and poor. Let’s say for a minute this societal sickness persist into the future, the year 2159 to be exact, what kind of a world will be left?

In this movie, the super rich have all the means and privileges to save only themselves, like they usually do, using their financial power to set up a new world called, Elysium. If you are born on Earth, you are predisposed to poverty, and that instantly disqualifies you from ever reaching their world. How ironic. And although this engineered world of theirs possesses all the necessary means to bring about great change for their fellow man, they refuse to share it.  

When Max (Matt Damon), a former convict, accidentally receives a lethal dose of radiation at the robot-manufacturing plantation he works at, getting to Elysium and the medical technology they possess literally becomes a matter of life and death. It also means he has to go back and join forces with the people he at one time decided to abandon and asking them for their help in getting there.

The local Warlord agrees to take him to Elysium if Max can steal financial information from the CEO of the company he used to work at. What he ends up stealing is far more than just financial intel, but in fact a program that can override Elysium’s central computer system, granting the owner of such information the power to decide who rules the new colony and who lives there or not.

There are lots of action in this sci-fi/action-thriller of Blomkamp's and he once again shows us he has the ability to envision stories that resonate with profound societal core issues, but does so in a fresh and original way. 

If anything, Elysium leaves you realising that there is no cure for hypocrisy and if we ever thought that running away from the issues we face here by going to a new world will be one, then we have it wrong. It's hypocrisy that drove you there in the first place. 

A new world won’t change anything for us if we don’t change ourselves and the way we live on the one we currently possess.

 

 

Elysium is currently showing on local cinemas.

'Honour, Code, Loyalty.'

When Colonel Nathan R. Jessop (Jack Nicolson), Commanding Officer of Windward Division Guantanamo Bay Cuba, gives an order you follow it. You follow it, ‘or people die – it’s that simple’. 

Ironically, that’s exactly what happened when he ordered the divisional officer of Bravo Company, Lt. Jonathan James Kendrick (Keifer Sutherland), to ‘train’ one of his men, a procedure informally referred to by the Marines stationed in Guantanamo  as a ‘code-red’.  

When Private Santiago dies as a result from receiving the code-red, what was supposed to be a routine order and just some in-house corrective training, suddenly becomes a murder charge and a possible military scandal for the Colonel. 

Ordinarily, giving someone a code-red isn’t a problem. It helps to keep the guys in check. Furthermore, every soldier in the Colonel’s unit knows better than to break the chain-of-command when they have an issue. They chose to live their lives by a certain code, a code that says: Unit, Corps, God, Country. That’s the order of priority for you when you are a marine in Guantanamo Bay. Santiago took problems he had in the unit to people on the outside and by doing so betrayed the code.

When word of his betrayal leaked, understandably, many of his fellow enlisted men were pissed at him and wanted to sort him out pronto, but at a divisional meeting, the platoon leader Lt. Kendrick told the men that anyone seeking retribution should refrain from it.  

What they didn’t know was that after that meeting broke, Kendrick specifically ordered two marines to give Santiago a code-red. Why is this an issue? Because Jessop received a memo earlier that year stating that the practice of code-reds was forbidden and illegal.

Fortunately, for both Corporal Harold W. Dawson and Private First Class Louden Downey, the marines accused of Santiago’s death, the JAG Court has the perfect man to represent them; cue in Daniel Kaffee. 

Daniel Kaffee (Tom Cruise) is a special lawyer. He has successfully plea-bargained 44 cases in just 9 months, about the same length of time of  Danny’s employment as an attorney in the Navy. Although his track record for plea-bargaining is impressive, it might also be the reason why he is assigned to this high-profile case; Danny has never been inside a courtroom, let alone make a legal argument in one.  

In ‘A Few Good Men’, Tom Cruise delivers a powerhouse performance as the young Lieutenant, Daniel Kaffee. Danny’s father was Lionel Kaffee, former Navy Judge Advocate and Attorney General of the United States. That means Danny has some big shoes to fill when it comes to defending the two Marines that are now on trial for their lives. 

'I want the truth!"

There’s just one problem: both Jessop and Kendrick deny ever giving such an order and Danny can’t proof conspiracy or purgery.  In fact, accusing a high-ranking officer of such a crime without having any evidence is a slippery slope at best, and if he does so, he’ll be in danger of being dishonourably discharged from the Navy.

'You can't handle the truth!'

The reworking of A Few Good Men from the classic Broadway play appears an effortless transition from the stage onto the screen. The cinematography is beautiful and you can sense that director Rob Reiner treated this project like a real gem. 

From a performance perspective both Cruise and Nicolson are on fire and at their very best. J.T Walsch delivers a classic low-key performance in his role as Lt. Col. Matthew Markinson and Kiefer Sutherland again in his is the perfect antagonist. At the time of filming, the issues addressed in the movie actually did occur in the military, albeit to some lesser degree.

The beauty of the message of ‘A Few Good Men’ lies within its deeper sub-plot and it’s one that tells the story of a young man coming of age.

When a man leaves the legacy of being a good father and role model, the day he dies he leaves a huge void in the lives of the people he touched. For Daniel, this is especially true. Not only does he have to overcome his own fears and ideas that he has about himself, but also the ones he wrongfully thought might have been his father’s. 

'I think my father would have enjoyed seeing me graduate from Law School.'

Luckily, Danny is not about to lie down without a fight. He knows how to fight, and he knows how to win. Fighting for Dawson and Downey therefore also becomes the fight for his life and the place he hopes to take up in it.

In a day and age where the world needs more than just a few a good men, this movie will inspire you to be one, it will have you laughing and crying at the same time making the emotional roller-coaster it takes you on every bit as powerful as the message of the film itself.

'Honor, Code, Loyalty.'