Now You See Me (2013), PG-13, 2.5 stars

Dave Franco, Isla Fisher, Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg.

Look closely. What do you see? It's a genre that many people are skeptical about. A movie which has the topic about magic is really tricky in execution and in the story because you want to keep guessing, but not be predicting the outcome. I've seen 2 "magic" movies, The Illusionist with Edward Norton and Christopher Nolan's underrated The Prestige. They are both really good, so I was wondering if this could be a hat trick. It was until the heist began.

Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher and Dave Franco star as magicians who are brought together under a mysterious benefactor to Las Vegas. They are called the "Four Horseman" during the performances. As they perform the final trick, they call an audience member to volunteer to rob a bank. That person is teleported to a bank in Paris and uses the money to vacuum it to the crowd in Vegas. That is a neat trick and a very suspicious one, indeed.

So, two agents, Dylan Rhodes and Alma Dray (Mark Ruffalo and Melanie Laurent) are paired up to investigate the theft. Rhodes meets an ex-magician, Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman), who makes money revealing secrets about other magicians' tricks and performances. Bradley was one of the members in the audience and he clearly thinks that they stole the money weeks in advance and it is the audience's perception that the magicians just gave the money away. Of course, they do the same trick except this time they steal from a magnate, Arthur Tressler (Michael Caine). They steal $140 million. Boy, no wonder Tressler would be pissed.

Tressler is so angry that he wants Bradley to expose the Four Horsemen. Dray and Rhodes still research on who they really are and the magicians, of course, are hiding from the agents and anybody pursuing them. This is going to be a wild goose chase.

Freeman showing a trick to Laurent.

The premise is really neat to set up because we are certainly interested as to how they set up the trick into just giving the money to the audience. It seems like a "Robin Hood" type of story, at first. Just thinking about it makes me want to go to Vegas and participate in a magician's act. But, it is unlikely that the act would not involve money.

But, the thing that hurts the movie is the character development. None of the magicians have interesting stories about themselves. They just commit to their job and perform. All, they do is plan, demise, escape and perform. That's it. They are likable, but not interesting. Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman are both really good as always. Mark Ruffalo and Melanie Laurent (great to see her again after Inglourious Basterds) are pretty good together and particularly have nice chemistry.

The heist, however, is just not that exciting. They plan to go to the company where a story I will not reveal is in and the benefactor is revealed at that moment. It is a bit cheating when they give out who was the mysterious benefactor. However, it did not live up to my expectations at the end. The set-up is thrilling, the magic was neat, but, the fun ran out in the forgettable third act.

**1/2