Now You See Me Starts the Series Well

by Allie Vasserman

Reviews

April 25, 2021

Now You See Me is a 2013 heist movie directed by Louis Leterrier. It stars Jesse Eisenburg as Danny Atlas, Woody Harrelson as mentalist Merrit McKinney, Isla Fisher as Henley Reeves, Dave Franco as Jack Wilder, Mark Ruffalo as FBI agent Dylan Rhodes, Melanie Laurent as Interpol agent Alma Dray, Michael Caine as Arthur Tressler, and Morgan Freeman as Thaddeus Bradley. If you enjoy this movie, there are more to watch: a sequel Now You See Me 2 was released in 2016, and a third installment in the franchise, Now You See Me 3, has been announced for 2022.

Now You See Me starts when a group known as the Four Horsemen is formed. The members of the Four Horsemen, illusionists Danny Atlas, Merrit McKinney, Henley Reeves, and Jack Wilder, come together after displaying their skills in small performances. Danny Atlas presents flashy tricks with cards; Merrit McKinney performs mentalism, a type of hypnosis; Henley Reeves makes use of redirection; and Jack Wilder employs distractions and his pickpocketing skills. The Four Horsemen become famous magicians after banker Arthur Tressler sponsors them. They soon rob a bank while performing a show on a Las Vegas stage and attract the attention of the FBI and Interpol. Dylan Rhodes, who is working for the FBI, teams up with Alma Dray from Interpol to catch the Four Horsemen for their crime. Ex-magician Thaddeus Bradley, who has created a new career for himself by revealing the tricks of other magicians, works with Rhodes and Dray to try to understand the Four Horsemen’s illusions and magic tricks. Throughout the movie, the Four Horsemen put on a series of magic shows and pull off heists using each of their specific skill sets in an effort to enter a mysterious society called the Eye. While doing so, they work to evade the pursuit of FBI and Interpol agents.

I really like the way in which the illusions, magic shows, heists, and conversations between the cast are all connected in some way. The phrase “the closer you look, the less you see” is telling. The Four Horsemen have great chemistry as a team and have several conversations with each other and other characters that are funny and entertaining to watch. The plot of the movie is written very well, and it is difficult to predict what is coming next. There are a few twists in the movie that I won’t reveal because they make watching this movie a more entertaining experience. I watched Now You See Me with my family, and I recommend it as a great option for a family movie night.