Now You See Me (2013)

I'm someone who typically dislikes far more plot twists than I like, especially those that come at the end of a film. Its much bolder to take chances in the middle of a story, and then the writers then have to deal with the ramifications for the rest of the running time. They change the stakes. When you just pull the rug out at the last second then throw the audience back out onto the street, it often rings hollow; like an empty attempt at surprise that usually doesn’t match up with what came before. These late shocks only work when they fit in thematically with the rest of piece, like The Sixth Sense or Scorsese’s Shutter Island. The new magic thriller Now You See Me falls decidedly on the “empty” side of the equation, though it’s a movie so full of would-be surprises that by the time the final reveal comes around most of the audience will have probably guessed it. It’s a ridiculous film filled with ridiculous magic that provides no real sense of wonder because it's simply the work of CGI and not actual human beings, and this general feeling of artifice bleeds through into the plot itself. Now You See Me might have played much better if I thought for a second that anything I was watching could actually happen in this or any other universe.

The gears of the plot kick into motion when a mysterious hooded being arranges for four street magicians to meet up and form a team. These magicians are J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), Merritt Osbourne (Woody Harrelson), Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher) and Jack Wilder (Dave Franco). Together they become the Four Horsemen, and they begin a Vegas show which is sponsored by the super rich Arthur Tressler (Michael Caine). When they appear to rob a French bank during one of their performances, FBI agent Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) and Interpol agent Alma Vargas (Mélanie Laurent) are put on the case to try and figure out just what they’re up to. From there the Horsemen’s tricks slowly escalate in scale, and they essentially stop being magicians and start being Ocean’s Eleven-style thieves. Things just get crazier and crazier from there.

All this is presented in polished and kinetic fashion by director Louis Leterrier, who swirls the camera around his characters enough to make Michael Bay dizzy. There’s definitely an impressive sense of forward momentum here, but it comes off less as a necessity and more as the film’s attempt to keep us from thinking too much about the content. Forget that last ridiculous scene, here’s a new one! At least the cast showed up ready to work, and it’s not often that a movie this dumb gets an ensemble this impressive. It’s reasonably fun to watch the actors interact with one another, but we never have any occasion to learn anything about them. In particular, the Four Horsemen themselves are played by a quartet of really engaging performers, but they are almost never asked to do anything interesting. They simply go about their business with smirks on their faces until the movie ends. In a way, they carry themselves in a very similar way to the film as a whole. Now You See Me isn’t nearly as ingenious and awe-inspiring as it thinks it is.

Grade: C