Movie Review: Now you see me (+trailer)

Four struggling magicians are plucked from their day-to-day acts and each is summoned via a tarot card to rendevous at a certain time and place.

Lured in by the promise of, I'm not sure what, the four arrive at a New York apartment and uncover plans for a magical mysterious bank heist.

Fast forward a year and the group are now a worldwide illusionist act known as the Four Horsemen. The reference is alluded to later in the film, although it's not made obvious.

So for much of the film you're left wondering if there is something more to the name, or not, or if a fifth horseman is really pulling all the strings, or if the name is something symbolic of Biblical times that might be revealed later.

In fact, throughout much of the film the audience is left slightly out of the loop and a little confused about how much of the plot it is meant to follow.

Good movies do this deliberately and pull it off.

I'm not convinced Now You See Me succeeds.

Back to the group.

The Four Horsemen manage to pull off the bank heist. Or do they?

The stunt is enough to get the FBI on to their tails, and so the action begins, sort of.

Throughout the movie there are constant reminders that magic is really "deception by disguise" and the real tricks often happen when you are "distracted by something else". The audience is reminded so much, it's hard to know how much of this is playing into the plot.

Now You See Me has its weaknesses but it's refreshing to see the illusionist industry get its turn in the spotlight and there is plenty of magic and visual treats on offer on screen.

Some tricks the audience is let in on. Others, not so much.

The movie is enjoyable, and keeps you guessing right until the end.

The core cast of Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Woody Harrelson and Mark Ruffalo are good.

Harrelson is a delight as a mentalist who dabbles in hypnotherapy.

Buoyed with a supporting cast of Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine, this cat-and-mouse movie could have been amazing, maybe.

Instead, it's "not bad".

Now You See Me

(M) 115 minutes

Rating: 3 / 5