It starts with the "Four Horseman", a group of four talented magicians, performing a rare magical stunt before an audience in Las Vegas: robbing a bank. The incredible yet contentious trick catches the attention of the FBI, and agent Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) starts an investigation.
The film is a brain-teasing race between the magicians and the police, both striving to get the upper hand by ridiculing and tricking each other. But then comes an unpredictable revelation that shocks them both.
Now You See Me is captivating. The pace is great and the magic tricks enjoyable. The cinematography is also outstanding.
But the concept of committing crimes makes the movie a morally questionable choice. The darkness of the film can also be overwhelmingly scary, and its focus on money, and the suggestion it's as addictive as drugs, glorify materialism to a worrying extent.
The movie establishes an insightful relation between money and people's life satisfaction. But it falls short of making clear its stance on whether such exorbitant wealth will lead to a disastrous finish or a greed-fuelled, yet somewhat happy ending.
YP Rating: 3/5
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