Now You See Me

Mark Ruffalo is the one positive amidst so much mediocrity in Now You See Me, a thriller from Clash of the Titans and Incredible Hulk director Louis Letterier.

Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco and Woody Harrelson are four street magicians brought together by an unknown fifth-man to carry out a series of heists under the guise of magic shows as ‘The Four Horsemen’. FBI man, Mark Ruffalo, with partner Melanie Laurent are on the case to stop The Four Horsemen from completing further heists. Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman are re-united as Four Horsemen benefactor and magic debunker respectively.

Now You See Me is a film that seems desperate to take the audience through as many twists and tricks as possible. Unfortunately, all of these twists are incredibly thinly veiled and only serve to make the film incredibly predictable. This is made all the worse by each member of The Four Horsemen being a one dimensional archetype that could have been copied from a book.

The film rumbles along, with the stakes increasing. The Four Horsemen move from Las Vegas to New Orleans and then to New York with more money at stake in each magic show related heist. The fact that each of these shows offers nothing new or particularly more interesting than the first makes Now You See Me a bit of a slog.

Ruffalo and Laurent’s characters develop an interesting relationship and tantalise with a feeling of there maybe being more going on with them than meets the eye.

One action sequence rises above the tedium to offer some fun. Dave Franco’s character, Jack, a pick pocket, faces off in an appartment against Ruffalo and another FBI agent. He makes use of the set and props to fend them off, leaving one caught in a garbage disposal and the other scrambling against Jack gambitting playing cards at him amongst things.

Now You See Me also offers a couple of laughs and the ocassional clever line amidst a lot of otherwise corny dialogue. A cast of popular players will attract many, but really this is a hollow film that doesn’t live up to even the moderate humour or warmth of this year’s other magic film, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone. Similarly, its twists, intrigue and mystery pale in comparison to something like The Prestige.