MTV Review: Now You See Me

UK Release Date: 3rd July 2013

Cert: PG-13

Running Time: 115 minutes

Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine

Director: Louis Leterrier

Plot: Four smalltime magicians (Eisenberg, Harrelson, Fisher and Franco) find themselves brought together by unknown forces to form The Four Horsemen, a David Copperfield-style illusionist troupe who use their shows to steal from the rich and give back to their audiences.

Their actions arouse the suspicions of both the FBI, who put Dylan Rhodes (Ruffalo) on the case along with a French Interpol agent (Melanie Laurent), as well as professional magic-debunker Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman).

Best Scene: No one scene, but early parts of the film with the Horsemen bickering amongst themselves are all very entertaining.

Scene Stealer: Woody Harrelson's character Merritt is an expert in 'Mentalism' and uses his powers to wind up Eisenberg's J. Daniel Atlas at every opportunity, to great comedic effect.

Best Line:
Merritt McKinney: The first time I saw you, I thought you were a d*ck.
J. Daniel Atlas: Oh, yeah? Then?
Merritt McKinney: Then nothing. That's it.

WTF moment: We can't say what happens without spoiling the surprise, but a series of revelations in the latter part of the film beggars belief.

Date Movie or Mate Movie: If you're watching this on a date then the way the film tails off in the second half will at least give you something to talk about.

MTV Rating: The movie's first half is truly magic, an Ocean's 11 style heist caper stuffed with some great one-liners delivered by a top-notch cast. Sadly however the film's tagline, "The closer you look, the less you'll see" is proved all too true as the second half unravels badly with a forced romance element and a series of ever more ridiculous plot twists. 

Gavin Cullen @mtvuknews