Now You See Me (2013) Review

"First rule of magic: always be the smartest person in the room."

In honour of Now You See Me 2 (The Second Act) being released in cinemas worldwide this week, we thought it fitting to revisit the film that started it all (aptly named Now You See Me), and provide you all of our thoughts and commentary on the American heist thriller.


Now You See Me, released in 2013, follows the story of 4 magicians, come together to form some sort of super-group – think One Direction but with ~magic~ and a creepy troupe name – the Four Horsemen. There’s J. Daniel “Danny” Atlas, aka The Lover (oh, did we mention they all have super creepy tarot card nicknames?), who is played by Jesse Eisenberg. Atlas is overwhelmingly arrogant, specialises in illusions, and seems completely clueless when it comes to women. Eisenberg plays him with all his usual peculiarity – albeit resonating a strange charisma and charm (who knew?). Atlas acts as the leader of the ragtag bunch of tricksters, although that’s not to say the other magicians don’t get their fair share of screen time.

Merritt McKinney aka The Hermit (Woody Harrelson) and Jack Wilder aka Death (Dave Franco) play key roles in the group’s plans, and Franco particularly is given the opportunity to shine as the sleight of hand illusionist, street magician and voice impressionist. Completing the quartet is Henley Reeves aka The High Priestess (Isla Fisher), an escape artist and stage magician, who also has the benefit of being Danny’s past lover (awkward…).

At the beginning of the film, the group receive information from an unknown benefactor and a year later, they are bang in the middle of the razzle-dazzle of Las Vegas, performing their first major show, funded by insurance big-cheese Arthur Tressler (Michael Caine). During their show, the magicians appear to transport one of the audience members to a bank vault, and using a seemingly rather elaborate fan system, the money is drawn into the vents of the bank, and suddenly the Las Vegas audience is showered with bills. After the euros are shown to be real, and the vault in Paris is revealed to be missing its recent shipment of euros (eh gad!!), the Feds are called in to investigate.

Cue the entrance of FBI agent Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) and Interpol agent Alma Dray (Melanie Laurent). Dylan Rhodes appears to be your typical bumbling buffoon. He falls into literally every trap the Four Horseman set for him, and oh boy, his antics seem to have no end. *Cue spoilers*

Let’s break it down.

(1) He tries to interview them and gets handcuffed to a table and his phone (and crucial info) is stolen.

(2) He follows them to their New Orleans show and shouts the buzzword as they try to escape at the end causing several audience members to rugby tackle him.
(3) He engages in hand to hand combat with Wilder (despite being severely underqualified) and sustains multiple injuries, lets his partner hands almost be eaten by a garbage disposal, pursues Wilder in a vehicle with all the road safety of Wiley Coyote, & is fooled yet again by the Horseman, believing Wilder to be blown to hell in a car crash.

(4) He follows the wrong lorry when trying to protect a safe full of money, and leaves the horseman able to steal the dough.
(5) He makes numerous tactical and strategic errors, not to mention he absolutely fails to heed the advice of professional-magician-debunker and altogether bad-ass Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman), and ultimately fails to apprehend the magicians.

What a guy right?

Who could be that stupid?


Well, apparently this is just an unbelievably ridiculous plot device to hide the true identity of the anonymous benefactor and ‘fifth horseman’ member. Who is it? Yep, you’ve guessed it. Grade A bumbling buffoon and altogether worst FBI agent ever Dylan Rhodes.


...I’m sorry, what?

Despite making genuinely no sense to the narrative of the story Is Rhodes a magician? – he seems to display no magic – apart from apparating out of Thaddeus’ cell at the end, Dumbledore style. How does he know about the Eye – the mysterious magic organisation – and what actually is it? Why become an FBI agent, especially in this division, when your overall plan is to aid the people you are tasked with apprehending? Why wait a gazillion years to exact your revenge on behalf of your father? Why engage in an extremely bland relationship with your co-worker? I have questions that NEED answering.

For me, this film was satisfactory up until the last 5 minutes when it’s revealed Ruffalo’s character is the main man. Ruffalo is a fine actor – yet he absolutely fails to portray any of the complexity needed to be some sort of magician mastermind. He’s very good at staring at you with his puppy dog eyes, but solely staring does not equate to acting (yes, we’re talking to you, Twilight). With this knowledge, the entire previous plot seems absurd and meaningless. We are not invested enough in the background of Rhodes to care at all about his plight, his sufferings or his motivations, and ultimately this is where the film falls short.

The introduction to all characters (not just Rhodes, although it is a particular fault with regard to him) is very brief and we have very little background information to go on. Henley and Danny’s relationship is mentioned frequently in the film yet their chemistry is not evident (despite the best efforts of the actors). World-class veteran actors such as Caine and Freeman are not used to their full potential and the film is worse for it.

The visuals are impressive, and the cinematography is something to marvel at, however, even these aspects cannot save the film, and despite all the illusion and mystery, the final trick feels hollow.


It is Danny who notes ‘The more you look, the less you see’, but in the case of Now You See Me, the more you look, the less you want to see.