Movie Review: Now You See Me

Now You See Me is a 2013 movie, directed by Louis Leterrier (The Incredible Hulk, Clash of the Titans).

The opening of the movie introduces us to 4 magicians performing solo acts: an arrogant street magician J.Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), an escape artist Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher), a mentalist Merrit McKinney (Woody Harrelson), and Jack Wilder (Dave Franco), a sleight-of-hand artist and when needed, a pickpocket. While these four are busy performing their acts, a man in a hooded jacket observes and later drops tarot cards with invitations for the four on them. They are intrigued and take up the invitations.

Fast forwarding to a year later, the four magicians are now a team, called The Four Horsemen. They are riding the big waves. For their final act on a stage performance in Las Vegas, they teleport a man and rob a bank in France. Then, they shower their audience with the same money. When the robbery is disclosed, Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo), FBI and Alma Dray (Melanie Laurent), Interpol get involved.

The Four Horsemen are a team; arrogant to the bone, and impossible to shake down. And they promise that more of such acts (or robberies) are yet to come. Without any evidence, and since magic is obviously not a viable explanation for robbery, they cannot be put in prison. Even so, FBI is hot on their trail, and to make things easier, they consult Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman). Bradley used to be a magician, but now makes a living exposing the secrets behind famous illusions.

The cops are constantly a step behind, but it is not because they are slacking. They suspect a mole – a Fifth Horseman. The mastermind who created this team of magicians. But there is a large suspect pool, and no evidence regarding the man behind the plans. Meanwhile, there are two more acts to come, and each act is always better than the previous one.

After the second act, The Four Horsemen go on the run, which culminates into a man-to-man fight, some action-filled car chase, a deadly accident and finally, a very public finale.

The story-line is good, though slightly misleading at times. There is a string connecting all the events, and this connection goes farther than expected, which is a good thing. Some events aren’t very impactful, because you can guess the reality behind the illusions, which makes the movie foreseeable to a small degree.

The movie has a good beginning, and the acts are astonishing . The explanations for their tricks and the heists don’t take away the charm because of the simple mechanisms behind the tricks. And though the movie revolves around the heist, the actual question is: who is the mole?  Morgan Freeman partially works as a narrator, and some good part has been put in by Michael Caine as Arthur Tressler (the benefactor of The Four Horsemen). Needless to say, the movie has a nice cast and crew.

At times the glitz is a bit too much and on a few occasions, it’s hard to follow the story line, but it can be overlooked. What cannot be overlooked however, is the finale. I was slightly put down.

Many people have classified this movie as belonging to the genre of Ocean’s Eleven, but though the genre remains similar, the two movies simply cannot be compared. Ocean’s Eleven had its own subtle charm, while Now You see Me relies heavily on loud glamour. The former is expected deception, with no cover ups. The same cannot be said regarding the latter.

There is a small romantic development, but it is kept at the back, for the better. The story is good. And the depiction made me chuckle and laugh. I found the mastermind plan behind the whole scheme genius in its modesty. The credit of course goes to the writers: Boaz Yakin( Prince of Persia: Sands of Time), Ed Soloman(Men in Black), and Edward Ricourt.

Did I like the movie? Yes! I watched this movie with no expectations and enjoyed it thoroughly. Overall, it’s a really good choice for a one-time watch.