Movie Review - Now You See Me

Now You See Me *** (PG-13) Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine sport the biggest names, but this fun-with-magic and crime caper is really about Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fischer and James Franco’s kid brother Dave as four marginal performers and hustlers who are recruited for a series of spectacular robberies by an unknown planner. They emerge from a year of training as the Four Horsemen, who seemingly rob a Paris bank from a Las Vegas stage. They follow that with a bigger heist in New Orleans, leading to their grand finale in New York. 

They’re being chased by an overmatched FBI agent (Mark Ruffalo) and a somewhat more intuitive Interpol agent (Melanie Laurent), with help from a Reality TV debunker (Freeman), while the quartet is funded by Caine. The key questions are who put the group together and planned their exploits, and for what purpose. It‘s obviously not just about stealing money. 

The tricks are epic and well-staged. The script dangles several suspects for their leader, maintaining the suspense quite deftly, with just enough comic relief for proper mood perspective.  Some of the action is clearly far-fetched, but if you aren’t willing to suspend disbelief for this premise, you should pick another summer flick. Those who get into the concept will be rewarded. (5/31/13)