Nothing More or Nothing Less than a Fun Ride

Rating: 7/10 (12 September 2013)

Four magicians and illusionists each answer a mysterious summons to an obscure address with secrets inside. A year later, they are the Four Horseman, big time stage illusionists who climax their sold out Las Vegas show with a bank apparently robbed for real. This puts agents Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) of the FBI and Alma Vargas (Melanie Lauerent) of Interpol on the case to find out how they did it. However, this mystery proves difficult to solve even with the insights of the professional illusion exposer, Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman). What follows is a bizarre investigation where nothing is what it seems with illusions, dark secrets and hidden agendas galore as all involved are reminded of a great truth in this puzzle: the closer you look, the less you see.
First, I thought it was going to be a character piece about these four master craftsmen, but it quickly turned into a heist movie. The CGI trickery, illogical setups and thinly sketched plot makes it kinda hard to appreciate it though. The revelation isn't a big surprise, but is contrived and the tricks that you don't want an explanation for are explained in detail, while the more outlandish tricks are left for the imagination since there's no possible way to explain it in the real world. It tries to come off as more clever than it actually is. There's no way the money they transferred from Arthur Tressler's (Michael Caine) account will stay in the people's accounts for long before the bank rectifies the problem. Still, it is very entertaining. The Prestige (2006) and The Illusionist (2006) are two actually great movies that you should check out if you're into magic and trickery. Doesn't matter if you love or hate this movie, you'll appreciate those two.
Eisneberg is doing the same old Social Network routine here. Harrelson was frankly awesome. Ruffalo and Fisher were fine, though Fisher was greatly underutilized. Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine reunite outside of the Dark Knight trilogy and they're kinda wasted really. French actress Melanie Laurent's naive Interpol character is hard to believe, but she is absolutely lovely and little things like her - 'Is this your card? Yeah? Kool' - makes the movie so much more endearing. Do not watch the movie expecting it to be an intelligent caper. It just comes off as stupid and pretentious then. This is nothing more or nothing less than a fun ride. Just for the sheer entertainment value and for the charming Melanie.
7/10