․ Directed by Louis Leterrier
․ Genre: Thriller Mystery
․ Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo
․ 115 Min.
What do you think of magic? Some people say that it is a kind of illusion, and some say that it is just a trick. Which do you think it is? There is a new movie that has magic at its heart called Now You See Me.
There are four street magicians called J. Daniel Atlas, Henley Reeves, Jack Wilder, and Merritt McKinney in this movie. They each received a card from an unknown benefactor. One year later, in Las Vegas, they have a show called “The Four Horsemen” that is sponsored by a huge insurance company. They perform a magic show, during which the audience sees them rob a bank in Paris. They vacuum up all the money in the safe in the bank, and throw the money on the audience. A spectator who is a client of the bank is teleported to the bank and finds a card that the Four Horsemen apparently left there, implying that they robbed the bank. Nobody can believe what they see, but the money from the Paris bank has really all disappeared.
FBI agents including Dylan Rhode and Interpol officer Alma Dray are assigned to investigate this case. The investigators interrogate the Four Horsemen, but there's no concrete evidence to substantiate their crime, so they are released. Dylan couldn't let it go, so he visited a man named Thaddeus Bradley. Thaddeus used to make money by revealing the secrets behind magicians’ tricks. Dylan asked Thaddeus to explain the secrets behind magic and help him catch the Four Horsemen.
The investigators then go to New Orleans where the Four Horsemen perform next. During the show, they steal $140 million from Arthur Tressler’s bank account who was the owner of a huge insurance company. Then they distribute it to people whose insurance claims have been denied by his company. The FBI agents set up a massive dragnet, but they escape.
In the meantime Jack Wilder dies in a car explosion. Nevertheless, the other magicians prepare for the last magic show in New York. They steal a safe made by a safe-making company that is the same company that made the safe Lionel Shrike an old magician died in. The Four Horsemen perform their last show at 5 Pointz and vanish into the air, throwing money onto the road. The money thrown on the road is fake and the real money is in Thaddeus’s car so he will be arrested. There is a plot twist at the end of this movie that you will never expect. After that, you can see how all the pieces of the puzzle fit together.
This movie is different from other magic movies. There’s no hero or heroine who have a superpower or can go to other worlds. In addition, this movie shows several different kinds of magic like escape acts, mental tricks and illusions. These shows also include high-tech tricks like teleportation.
The present generation has learned the secrets behind some tricks, so sometimes they complain that it is not real magic. However, magicians hope that magic is considered to be illusion and that people just enjoy it. Interpol officer, Alma Dray says, “You know that I think some things are better just left unexplained.” The director Louis Leterrier said, “Now You See Me means the start of something unbelievable”. Put aside keen observing eyes, and just enjoy the movie. Then the movie will give you great pleasure.
