A modern day Prestige? Not quite the Nolan masterpiece, but has a lot of qualities.

Rating: 7/10 (29 July 2013)

Now You See Me, the latest film directed by Transporter director Louis Leterrier, brings the extravagance of 21st century 'magic' to the screen in this modern crime/thriller held together by an extremely talented ensemble cast including Morgan Freeman, Michael Cane and Mark Ruffalo.
The magic is the distraction in what is a film that turns out to be a highly enjoyable revenge flick. The plot involves the 'four horsemen' J. Daniel Atlas (Jessie Eisenberg), Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson), Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher) and Jack Wilder (Dave Franco), who are four extremely talented magicians hand picked as part of a mystic cult led by an unknown entity. The opening of the film sets the characters up well, each exposing their talents in the field leading them to come together with one thing in common: they each possessed a mysterious tarot card that led them to become the 'four horsemen'. From then on without knowing whom they were working for or why, the four magicians set upon amazing acts of illusion that left both the country and more importantly, the FBI agent Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) mystified, including the first act: robbing a French bank. As an audience you will be led down a path of mystery. Are they acts of greed, defiance, or for a greater good? This is what Leterrier does so well in transcending to the screen, as in not just the mystery surrounding it all, but displaying it in a very modern, extravagant and high-tech way.
The film has been dubbed by some as the new 'Prestige'. Although it is not in the same class as Christopher Nolan's fantastic old school magicians tale, it shares similarities in its mysteriousness. Jessie Eisenburg and Woody Harrelson steal the show performance-wise. Despite their individual screen time decreasing as the film goes on, both demonstrate their ability to hold an audience with ease, adding wit and charm to their characters so comfortably. Now You See Me is more than a magic film. Some viewers may get lost behind the bright lights and glamour of it all, but this has more depth to it than that.