It will go down in history as the best movie of 2013.

Rating: 10/10 (10 December 2014)

A lot of people also think there is no real magic in this movie. Since the condescending black guy, Thaddeus, debunks just about every magic trick in the movie.
Well, there is a lot of magic in this movie. One of them is the building leap where the 3 Horsemen turn into money. How does one explain that?
How did the 30-year-old New York Post paper featuring a two page article on Lionel Shrike get inside Alma Dray's Liberation newspaper in Paris? How did Dylan Rhodes escape the locked prison cell when he visited Thaddeus from behind him and then appear in front of him where the door is at?
In the interrogation room Merritt informs Alma about Dylan having daddy issues and that it's her first time off the desk. So he is a real mentalist. He can also feel energy through closed doors and glass when he acknowledges Fuller and Dylan looking at him in the room. Jack disappears from inside the curtain when Dylan grabs him at the joint. And appears on the other side. It's unexplainable, so it's magic.
And also, how did Atlas get the SUCK IT card inside Thaddeus' velveteen pocket before their second show?
We may never know whether the story of the cheating husband at the beginning is true or not. But we do know about Dylan having daddy issues and Alma being her first time off the desk. No one told Merritt. Well, least not about Alma. This is magic.
Thaddeus knew an unusual amount of information about the Horsemen plans and The Eye. So The Eye is real, or was real. He knew about the book Alma was reading called The Guardians of Horus. He even tells Arthur that whatever the grand trick is was designed long ago. How does he know this?
Another clue is the first meeting with Thaddeus when he tells them that they are being played because it's a game. Only Dylan can understand him.
Some people claim that there is no growth in the characters and that they are shallow. Again, not true. They had a start as individual acts, Merritt was successful at one stage, even had a TV show. He was trying to do a comeback with a book he wrote about hypnosis.
Before they leave the joint, Henley wonders who they are working for and Jack doesn't want to go to jail. Or get killed. Merritt is expecting a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Henley reminds them that they must stick to the plan and Merritt will get to do whatever he wants after.
Jack, since he is the youngest, is often treated unfairly. Even in the engineered Jet scene when he wants to speak about his part on the show. He is dismissed. Atlas and Henley used to work together back in the day and went their separate ways as Atlas was a control freak.
When they post a video on Youtube about Jack's death, Merritt also says they have started something bigger than all of them. And they have to finish it. In the lift at 5 Points Henley comments that she had a year of fun even if she goes to jail. This is character development.
At Central Park Merritt celebrates Jack for being 'a big boy now'.
The story is NOT about the Horsemen. It is about Dylan Rhodes. He is the one that grows throughout the movie. He is the one who is satisfied at the end. He is the one who had a goal. He is the one who knows what was happening and what to do.
After the inciting incident, Dylan gets a call from Fuller. He accepts the opportunity and goes to his office to start with the case. When he gets there, to cover his tracks, he acts like he doesn't want anything to do with the case. His plan did not or would not involve anyone outside the bureau, much less an agent from Interpol. He didn't see this one coming.
He later changes his mind when they let them go, confusing the agents. Again, to cover his tracks. When Fuller tells him about Thaddeus being in the show filming the Horsemen, he, to us, did a terrible job when he denies ever having any knowledge about the magic debunker. And only we can see this. Even when they meet Thaddeus at his offices, he had to convince everyone that he doesn't know anything about magic or his own father, Lionel Shrike. He acts like a dummy. We are the only ones who can see this.
At the empty Las Vegas theater, he did an excellent job when he 'pretended' that he didn't know how they stole the money from Paris. For Alma. He had to keep up with her for most of the movie because she was onto something. She's a researcher. A desk agent like Merritt said.
Of course Thaddeus won't last in jail. And yes Arthur's money is gone. Merritt can hypnotize people over the phone to get them to do whatever he wants. Even if Credit Republican of Paris gets its money back since the bank money is probably insured and the Elkhorn money inside the safe at the warehouse, the whole point was for Dylan was to humiliate his victims. Arthur Tressler's insurance career is over. After they exposed his company it will be done away with.
Thaddeus Bradley's ego is busted. He'll find it very difficult to return into the business after what Dylan did to him.