What is magic but the art of creating something spectacular and awe inspiring? Mixing dialogue, bright lights, music, performance and misdirection to create an entertaining illusion. Put in that context then it’s just like cinema, possessing the power to dazzle and entertain, which is exactly what this film does. To sum it up in a few words, it’s a magical heist.
The film hits the ground running with some great introductions to our main characters and sets the pace for this fun caper. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg) is the quick talking (like most of the other roles he’s played) master of card tricks and a bit of a control freak. Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson) is a mentalist/hypnotist who steals most of the scenes he’s in his usual cheeky manner. Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher) is an escapologist and former assistant of Atlas and Jack Wilder (Dave brother-of-James’ Franco) is a street magician/pickpocket. They all have great skill in their trade and are brought together by an unknown benefactor with an unknown motive.
A year later these four street magicians are now a super team called The Four Horsemen and are performing in Vegas, the first of three monumental shows where they seemingly teleport a member of the audience to their bank in France, steal the money and shower the loot over the audience.
This begins the chase as FBI agent Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) and Interpol detective Alma Dray (Melanie Laurent) attempt to discover how they achieved this heist and track them down at subsequent shows. They enlist Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman), a former magician who makes money by breaking the magicians’ code, to aid their search and reveal the Horsemen’s secrets and the bigger picture.
This was the so called sleeper hit’ of the summer which slipped under a lot of people’s radar due to mixed reviews and being overshadowed by the traditional sprawl of summer sequels and reboots. It’s a shame really as we need more original films in the summer. Luckily though, a lot of people did manage to catch this and a sequel is already in development. That being, said I hope they manage to get the entire star studded cast back as the performances are great and you can tell that they had a blast making this film. The subtle dynamics of the characters relationships are pulled off by the actors and the chemistry is almost infectious. Each one has their role and some of the banter and witty dialogue had me in stiches.
This script is well written with some truly memorable lines executed perfectly and every character has their time to shine. The only character I felt was underused was Jack Wilder. He is the quietest of the Horsemen and was generally overshadowed by the rest of the characters, but it all made sense in the end. There is also a Robin Hood like subtext, reminiscent of the current economic climate, which fits well as the Four Horsemen rob from the rich and give to the deserving. Thankfully this is played out in a way that doesn’t come across as preachy and just adds to the fun.
If you have seen Oceans 11 (2001) then you will be familiar with this game of cat and mouse, but the emphasis on magic is a fresh twist that fits comfortably as the audience is constantly trying to guess how the heists and tricks are achieved. I managed to figure it out and see the bigger picture but my girlfriend didn’t and it was great to see the look on her face when it was revealed. However this isn’t an M. Night Shyamalan movie, so don’t go in expecting a twist and over analysing everything. As the film’s opening instructs you, “The more you look, the less you see.
Although I enjoyed this movie a lot there were some unnecessary and unconvincingly cheesy moment’s which took me out of the film and the use of CGI in some tricks just looked tacky.
Like a lot of films I’ve seen recentlym I seemed to lose concentration as it went along. I put that down to the fantastic first half hour descending to a by-the-numbers chase with predictable characters and events. Director Louis Leterrier has directed some terrific action sequences in Transporter 2 (2005) and The Incredible Hulk (2008) so it’s no surprise to see some great chase scenes and a fight scene cleverly utilising a few magic props.
On the features front, Now You See Me revealed is your standard making of’ but makes for a pretty good watch. The cast emphasise that the Four Horsemen giving away their loot is what drew many of them in and how the use of magic is a good twist to the heist genre. The behind-the-scenes magic trick training looks fun and glad to say that they used very little CGI.
We also have a Teaser Trailer, which contains a few spoilers, and the spoiler filled Theatrical Trailer, which I’m glad not to have seen before viewing the film.
Unsurprisingly the Blu Ray contains a few more extras including an extended cut which I would like to see in the hope it adds a bit more characterisation.
Overall Verdict: All in all this film is a fun and entertaining thrill ride from the start although I did feel it ran out of steam towards the end. I have a feeling that I will enjoy this film more the second time around and I’d recommend you see it as it had me giggling and guessing throughout, in many places it’s worth it just for the banter between the characters.
Reviewer: George Elcombe