Enter the four Horsemen – sleight-of-hand expert J. Daniel Atlas (Eisenberg), hypnotist Merritt McKinney (Harrelson), escape artist Henley Reeves (Fisher) and street thief Jack Wilder (Franco) – all of whom had perfectly respectable solo careers until they decided to team up and pull off the biggest magic trick in the world. As the finale of one of their shows, the quartet rob a bank in Paris, and shower their adoring audience with the cash from the US$3 million heist. F.B.I. Agent Dylan Rhodes (Ruffalo) is assigned to the case, and with the help (or hindrance) of Interpol representative Alma Dray (Laurent), tries to stop the Horsemen before they can strike again.
That`s confusing enough to begin with, but it really helps to know as little as possible about the film before going in. Much of its thrill and spark come from being as enraptured as the Horsemen`s audience by their antics. How exactly do they pull some of their tricks off? Can they stay one – or two, or a hundred – steps ahead of Rhodes and professional magic debunker Thaddeus Bradley (Freeman)? Leterrier directs the first half of the film with a light, cheeky touch, so much so that any niggling questions about logic fade away as Atlas bickers with Reeves, or McKinney arrogantly (and charmingly) baits Rhodes within an interrogation cell.
In fact, Leterrier directs the proceedings in so stylish and smooth a fashion that he manages to keep the entire farce going for a lot longer than it really should. In truth, the film has already lost itself in its lies and tricks by the time talk surfaces of a vanished magician and a top-secret magician`s association. But Now You See Me stays just a hair`s breadth ahead of its audience for long enough that these narrative detours and red herrings are fun rather than frustrating – at least initially.
All good things must come to an end, however, and once Now You See Me has laid all its cards on the table, it proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that no one really wants to gain a deeper understanding of how three things – (1) sausages, (2) laws, and (3) magic tricks – are pulled off. The real truth of the matter, if you hadn`t guessed it already, doesn`t exactly cheapen the rest of the film, and in fact would make a rewatch fun, though not strictly necessary. But, in a movie full of audacious trickery, this twist is the most outrageous of all, and could just as easily have you gasping in awe as cursing in frustration.
That Now You See Me remains watchable even after the big reveal is entirely down to its cast. Ruffalo, in particular, is the true magician here, somehow infusing a rather sketchily drawn character with unexpected depth. His colleagues also do such fine work that it`s especially frustrating when the story and relationships of the four Horsemen – together and apart – end up getting a little lost in the shuffle of the deck.
`The closer you look, the less you`ll see,` the movie`s poster proclaims proudly. The sad truth is that the closer we get, the less we really want to see. Now You See Me starts out as a complete blast: fun, fizzy, dazzling and escapist, as a magic trick should be. Just don`t tell us how it`s done.
Summary: A great magic trick that loses much of its appeal once its secrets are revealed.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Shawne Wang