The closer you look, the less you’ll see! Never a more fitting tagline…in more ways than one! A bunch of magicians (Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco and Isla Fisher) form a mysterious alliance and set about robbing banks during the jaw dropping stage show, not only delivering mystery and illusion, but wads and wads of stolen cash to the audience.
Is it all just a trick? Regardless; it gets the attention of the cops and the FBI, namely Detective Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) and a major cat and mouse game develops. Mix in a magician debunker, Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman) and you have one of the most thrilling pieces of cinema this year, which will firmly plant your jaw on the ground by the time the credits role.
Cast wise, Eisenberg is on fire here as a real arrogant piece of work, but immensely likeable. He delivers some brilliant pieces of dialogue which will have you grinning from ear to ear. And of course the “magic tricks” he performs are executed rather perfectly, as you’d expect as all the cast had months of training, with various magicians and mentalists. For example, Ireland’s own Keith Barry trained Woody Harrelson as a mentalist. Harrelson, while able to do this kind of role in his sleep is full of personality and again likeability. It’s hard to not like the cast to be honest. Dave Franco, while a bit underused manages to not only steal watches and wallets, but steals a scene or two while he’s at it. Excluding her piranha scene, Isla Fisher, while watchable, seems like an after thought here.
It’s really Ruffalo and Eisenberg though, who lead the way on terms of performance. The Hulk’s ruffled and scruffy look fits perfectly into his beaten down, angry cop persona. Like Harrelson, Morgan Freeman can do this kind of thing in his sleep, but he’s equally watchable. With the exception of Fisher, who I reckon is out of depth here from a presence point of view, the main cast are very, very convincing.
Magic is all about misdirection and Now You See Me is bursting with misdirection. It’s only when you leave the cinema will you realise what a good job director Louis Leterrier has done here, mashing up a crime caper with a magic show. The pacing is quick, the visuals are solid but at times the story seems a bit flat and like Isla Fisher, a number of scenes serve only as fodder.
Overall though, Now You See Me offers a superb slice of entertainment that is very refreshing. And its closing chapter will land you flat on your ass! A must see!
Incidentally, recentally we caught up with Jesse Eisenberg and he spilt the beans on how the magic was done and who had some seriously good tricks off camera. To listen to the interview, grab it from the podcast on iTunes by clicking here
