10 Supporting Movie Characters Who Should've Been The Lead
3. The Four Horsemen (Now You See Me)
Now You See Me was almost a really good mystery/heist movie, with a killer hook: stage magicians and master illusionists who use their talents to rob the ultra rich. What was its undoing was its obsession with twist endings, having at least three, ending on by far the dumbest one. Somehow, the mastermind behind the whole operation was the detective trying to catch them.
Not a bad idea for a twist, but it wasn't executed as well as it could have. Because Mark Ruffalo is our protagonist, we know things about him that completely contradict this twist. But, the twist could have been salvaged with just a minor tweak to the perspective: making the four horsemen the protagonists.
Why not, right? They're by far the movie's biggest hook, and easily the film's most interesting characters. And this would make the twist work, since now you don't know that much about Ruffalo, so you'd be able to buy him being the mastermind a little better.