James R | On 01, Nov 2013

Director: Louis Leterrier
Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, Melanie Laurent
Certificate: 15

“Look close. Because the more you look, the less you’ll see.”

It’s a fitting start to Now You See Me – a snappy catchphrase for street magician J. Daniel Atlas (Eisenberg) and a warning for the whole audience. The premise is irresistible: a bunch of magicians (“The Four Horsemen”) carry out a bank heist. And amazingly, like the magicians, the movie pulls it off.

Or does it?

Louis Leterrier’s thriller is so concerned with who’s tricking whom that pretty soon, you don’t trust anything. Alongside the arrogant Atlas, our horsemen are made up of mindreader Merritt (Harrelson) – whom we first see exposing the infedility of a husband… only to charge him to erase it from his wife’s memory – romantic interest Henley (Fisher), and eager youngster Jack (Franco).

Their antics are scrutinised by magician-unmasker-with-a-grudge Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman) and their rich boss, Arthur Tressler (Michael Caine). The latter pays even more attention when it turns out the horsemen have set themselves up as Robin Hood-style bandits; robbing from the wealthy to give back to the poor.

Pretty soon, the group are national heroes, chucking money at the public in a blaze of flashing lights, burning paper and teleportation.

Could it all be real?

Determined police detective Dylan (Ruffalo) doesn’t think so. The problem is that, at times, neither do we – a reliance upon computer effects leaves a lot of the displays of magic feeling rather fake. Card tricks are one thing. People floating in bubbles? Now You See Me really puts the CGI in “magic”. It’s the only distraction, though, from what turns out to be a spectacularly daft piece of showmanship.

Director Louis Leterrier rushes through all the misdirection like a man with a rabbit hidden in his pants, while the script repeatedly pulls stupid plot twists out of its sleeves in a frantic attempt to appear unpredictable. The biggest surprise of all? It works.

A lot of that is down to the cast. Harrelson and Eisenberg deliver enough laughs to balance out the ridiculous events, while the fantastic Mélanie Laurent (Inglourious Basterds) makes far more of her role as Dylan’s assistant than you’d expect, fleshing out the investigation’s red herrings with a wide-eyed innocence. Mark Ruffalo, though, steals the show as the understated skeptic, his gradual acceptance of magic making for a enjoyably cheesy transformation.

Some attempts at romance, like the CGI stagework, don’t quite convince, but with Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman hamming up their supporting roles and a typically funky score from Brian Tyler, Now You See Me sells its act with an infectious enthusiasm.

The real wizards? Writers Ed Solomon, Boaz Yakin and Edward Ricourt. Together, the trio come up with a dazzling feat: a Hollywood film that isn’t a remake or an adaptation of a book. A big studio picture that’s completely original? Such enjoyable hokum should be celebrated not debunked. Especially when it involves something as spellbindingly silly as magicians carrying out a bank heist.

“Look close. Because the more you look, the less you’ll see.”

It’s true. Now You See Me falls apart as soon as you think about it, but why bother? Sometimes, believing is more fun.

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