Now You See Me......now you don't. I found myself hoping for the latter throughout this overly long and sometimes confusing effort from director Louis Leterrier. Despite an extremely talented cast, Now You See Me never realizes its full potential and wastes at least three talented actors, who are relegated to what seems like non-essential roles because they are off screen for long periods of time. In any event, the story centers around four magicians who are asked to meet at a mysterious address where they encounter each other with egos firmly intact and are treated to a unique visual spectacle, which leads to a offer for their combined services. While the foursome all are full of themselves, J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg) is probably the most arrogant. However, he has the talent and intelligence to back up his boasting (don't you just hate people like that?)
Rounding out the group is a mentalist, Merrit McKinney (Woody Harrelson), a street magician, Jack Wilder (Dave Franco) and an escape artist, Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher). As you might expect, trust is an issue within the group, who are masters at manipulation and that results in several amusing exchanges. They are eventually christened the Four Horsemen (I suppose Henley is just "one of the guys") and, over time, they band together for a Las Vegas show and promise to thrill audiences by performing impossible illusions. One of those tricks involves a bank robbery, in France, which is conducted on stage in Las Vegas, seemingly during the show. When the bank is actually found to be robbed, the authorities become involved, including FBI agent Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) and Interpol agent Alma Dray (Melanie Laurent). However, the tricksters always appear to be ahead of the aforementioned agents and make them repeatedly look like fools.
The flummoxed agents enlist the help of a former magician, Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman), who they hope can shed some light on the bank heist. Bradley is also acquainted with the person who is funding the Four Horsemen, Arthur Tressler (Michael Caine), and they share a complicated and competitive history. However, the foursome eventually turn on Tressler, who vows revenge, but then disappears, just like magic! The balance of the film focuses on the efforts of the authorities to find out the truth behind the illusions and bring the foursome into custody, which is no easy feat.
From a technical perspective, Now You See Me looks slick and magical, as well as fantastic and contemporary. However, the convoluted plot and lack of focus hampers this effort, but to its credit, the final act manages to hold a couple of surprises. However, even an award worthy cast (who should have been given better material to work with) and the technical marvels cannot save Now You See Me from becoming a less than stellar magic act.
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