Now You See Me

(United States/France, 2013) May 30, 2013
A moviereview by James Berardinelli

With Now You See Me,director Louis Leterrierhastaken a page out of the
book ofhischaracters: usesleight-of-hand soviewers are distractedfrom
some rather obviousscreenplaydeficiencies. By employing afast-moving,
high-energy approach that includespunchy dialogue,fast cutting, and an
up-tempomusicalscore, Leterrierskates over plotholes with élan,making
this aperfect "refrigerator movie" of Hitchcockiannature. As imperfect as
Now You See Me might be, it's a lot offun and features someeffective
performancesfromwell-known andwell-respectedactors. It's alittle along
the same lines as Ocean's 11 inwhat itachieves and, like that film,
there's plenty of Oscarpoweramong theactors - a combined 15 nominations,
to beprecise.

The filmopens with a series ofscenes thatintroduce the maincharacters
withgreateconomy. There's stagemagician J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse
Eisenberg), aperfectionistwho needsto be in control; Merritt McKinney
(Woody Harrelson), a "mentalist"who was once abigname; Henley Reeves
(Isla Fisher), Atlas' former assistantwhohas "grown up"to become an
escape artist; and con man andsmall-timetrickster Jack Wilder (Dave
Franco). Whenbrought together as "The Four Horsemen" by multi-millionaire
Arthur Tressler (Michael Caine), theybecome thebiggest new thing to hit
Vegas. Theirfirst stunt is audacious: rob a bank in Francewhilestanding
on a stage in a casino theater. Thisgets the attention of FBI agent Dylan
Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) and Interpol deskjockey Alma Dray (Melanie Laurent),
not to mentionmagicdebunker Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman). For the
Four Horseman, however, this is only thefirstact of a three-act play…