Take a leap of faith...

Rating: 8/10 (30 September 2018)

Take a leap of faith, that is a common theme in the movie. And it applies to us as the audience too. Before I wrote this review I checked around and saw that other reviews were quite mixed. Some loved it, and some hated it. I loved it. But it required a leap of faith... to believe in the magic of the film.
So this is magic/heist movie. Four aspiring young (can you still call Woody Harrelson young?) magicians are recruited by a mysterious person to form the act: The Four Horsemen. In their first show they do a big finale by robbing a bank halfway around the world. That gets everyones attention (especially the FBI's) and the magicians rise to stardom. Now starts a cat and mouse chase with the authorities, all the time while their mysterious sponsor remains in the shadows.
Now, performing magic acts must be easier in a movie than in real life, but quite a few are tricks that could have been made (and are?) in real magic shows. And here is the leap of faith we need to take. If you buy into the premise of the movie, that the tricks work, it becomes a spectacle of fun (if you don't, well quite everything falls apart, but why watch a magic movie and not want to believe in the magic).
The ride we are taken along is fast paced, with some good action and some nice effects. The air, much built upon from the magic shows, is good and humorous. The movie is really entertaining. It is fun to follow their magic tricks and heists. To follow the next step, and trying to stay one step ahead of the heists. And therein perhaps is the biggest fault of the movie. The final twist is not really hard to see coming, but actually that doesn't matter too much. It is the magic that is the central part of this, so just sit back and be entertained.