"Now You See Me" (2013)

I enjoyed this thoroughly as a piece of pure movie entertainment. As the perennial Grumpy Critic, I wanted to resist its numerous charms and focus on its flaws, of which there are a few. But the flick won me over with the cleverness of its premise, the input of its dynamic cast, the gritty veracity of its locations (Vegas, New York, New Orleans, Paris), and its utter commitment (to quote Family Guy: “It insists upon itself”). With so much sheer momentum it’s tough not to get swept along, and the film dares you not to like it. As a breezy meditation on what constitutes magic and the faith required to pull off an illusion, director Louis Leterrier (the Transporter franchise, The Hulk, Clash of the Titans) does his own bit of cinema prestidigitation, pulling the wool over our eyes with panache and making us feel grateful for the experience.

There is some crackling acting done by Jesse Eisenberg, fave Mark Ruffalo, and now-veteran character actor Woody Harrelson. Isla Fisher’s flowing red hair and Dave Franco (baby bro to James) and his familial killer grin are just along for the ride, but Morgan Freeman—whose best screen work is now safely behind him – looks a little worse for wear as he tries valiantly to inject some enthusiasm into his role as agent provocateur. Also happy to be collecting yet another check is Michael Caine, who has precious few choice lines as a multi-millionaire investor with a giant ego and a mean streak. French actress Melanie Laurent (Inglorious Basterds) bats her baby blues, models her considerable proboscis, and mangles the English language as a mysterious Interpol agent who helps FBI agent Ruffalo track the magicians known as the Four Horsemen as they commit bank heists for mass entertainment as some sort of Initiation Rite. Why rapper and actor Common is even in this flick is as much a mystery as how the magic tricks are done, since he is wasted as a member of the FBI investigational team, when his coolness factor could have added exponentially to the fun of the proceedings.

AS the film opens we are shown how this diverse collection of individual magic practitioners manages to swindle their audiences with acts of illusion ranging from the petty (card tricks and sleights of hand on the street by Eisenberg and a bait-and-switch underwater escape by Fisher) to the criminal (a spoon bending robbery by semi-newcomer Franco and a cheap hypnosis hustle by Harrelson). They are brought together for a common cause by a mysterious stranger who challenges them in the name of joining the Illuminati, er, the Ultimate Magic Fraternity aka The Eye. Semi-strangers at first, within a year they have put together a stage act that is drawing patrons like gangbusters to watch some of the most unique illusions ever committed in public, essentially robbing the rich and paying the poor. But the quartet is not a band of noble Robin Hoods – their magic acts are part of a vengeful scheme ordered by an unknown mastermind for reasons not revealed until the final moments of the film.

Some of the best bits in the film have to do with Eisenberg’s arrogant rat-a-tat line recitations, besting the feds who would see the magicians thrown in the pokey for seeming high crimes that can’t be explained. I laughed out loud at the plot payoffs, mostly having to do with the after-effects of mentalist Harrelson’s hypnotic suggestions on innocent audience members reacting to trigger words at just the right times. A car chase staged in lower Manhattan and then over the Brooklyn Bridge is utterly thrilling, and the huge magic show setpieces are captured by cameras that glide and swoop around and over the stage and its inhabitants.

What is interesting about Now You See Me is the idea of how much we the audience are essential to the success of any illusionist’s craft. Singers can sing whether there is an audience or not; dancers leap around in their basement or a rehearsal studio and their abilities are intact. But somehow the world of magic, perfected through hours and hours of diligent practice, is only successful when performed before an observer whose power of belief makes things so. Illusionists use our humanity – our five senses and our willingness, nay our sheer need to believe – against us. To what degree we feel sheer amazement and delight – or resentment at having been duped – depends entirely on our expectations.