Saturday, September 14, 2013

Now You See Me (2013)

  I was initially excited to see this movie because I like stage magic.  Unfortunately, it's just a little too obvious to be a good trick.

Four different magicians (Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Woody Harrelson, and Dave Franco) are pulled together from various cities by mysterious Tarot cards.  One year later, the Four Horsemen are headlining Las Vegas, where they pull off a huge bank robbery.  FBI agent Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) and Interpol agent Alma Dray (Melanie Laurent) are assigned the case, but soon find themselves being led around by the nose.  Assisting, or possibly obstructing, them is professional magic debunker Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman).  As the law closes in, the Horsemen's tricks only grow more elaborate.

Or they would have, if it wasn't such a callback to The Prestige or even Ocean's 11.  It's still pretty entertaining as a movie, and I do like a good comedy but, like all magic tricks, if you can see how the thing is done, it's not magic anymore.

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