Movie Review: Now You See Me

Magic is all about the art of illusion so what if magicians used their crafty tricks to perform a series of heists? That's the setup of Louis Leterrier's new film Now You See Me and it makes for a good ol' fashioned time at the movies.

Now You See Me centers around four magicians (Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher and Dave Franco) who are mysteriously brought together from across the country to perform a new act in Las Vegas known as "The Four Horsemen". The Four Horsemen are given funding for their show by billionaire businessman Arthur Tressler (Michael Caine) and their controversial last trick involves robbing a bank in Paris. This bank robbery stunt soon grabs the attention of the authorities and FBI agent Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) and Interpol agent Alma Vargas (Melanie Laurent) who launch an investigation against the Horseman. The heists keep occurring with no explanation other than magic while Rhodes, Vargas and magic debunker Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman) work tirelessly to apprehend the Horsemen and figure out the methods used to commit the robberies.

Now You See Me is simply an exercise in pure fun. It never takes itself too seriously and it makes excellent use of its unique and interesting premise. A magician heist movie really is a brilliant idea for a movie. The smoke and mirrors of magic tricks perfectly complements bank robberies. Screenwriters Ed Solomon, Boaz Yoakin and Edward Ricourt do a damn good job of incorporating various elements of magic into the capers and keeping the audience guessing at the time same time the on-screen law enforcement officials are . Only adding to the fun of the premise is the incredibly talented cast of acting veterans. Eisenberg and Harrelson stand out amongst "The Four Horseman". Both play incredibly sarcastic, cocky magicians and the verbal jabbing between the two of them are at the root of a majority of the film's laughs. The antagonists are also played well by Mark Ruffalo, Melanie Laurent and Morgan Freeman. Ruffalo and Freeman were particularly interesting giving their characters a lot of fire and giving them a genuine sense of urgency and hellbent attitude at finding out the mystery of how these magicians are pulling off this  series of robberies. The script does have some issues with some things left unexplained even after a pretty effective plot twist at the end and it could've been better developed in the middle, but the consistent entertainment value this film has is more than enough to overcome the issues portions of the script have. Now You See Me isn't a game-changer, it's just a cool, original movie that is fun as hell and that's really all you need to sometimes to craft a successful film.

4/5 Stars