How
do you portray magic in a medium that is all magic? Get a cast made up
of Woody Harrelson, Mark Ruffalo, Jesse Eisenberg, Dave Franco, Michael
Caine, Morgan Freeman, Isla Fisher, Melanie Laurent, Jose Garcia and
Commons and add a lot of razzle-dazzle. “Now You See Me” delivers on
both counts. The ending may not quite make sense and may have to be
listened to a second time or might make you think of seeing the movie
over again to follow if the ending is as logical as the screenwriter
says it is.

There
are spectacular magic tricks, most explained, foot chases, a car chase
and a couple of heists that are explained to such an extent that it adds
to the puzzlement. This is not a movie to see for character development
because a love story between 2 of the stars only slows everything down
while another couple is handled in a sort of throwaway manner and makes
more sense.

Mark
Ruffalo as an FBI agent needs a shave while his partner on loan from
Interpol, Melanie Laurent, adds a foreign interest leading to a bridge
in Paris with a fence filled with locks. (Always learning things from
movies--didn’t know this was a widespread craze--had to google it for
more information!) The team of four with Woody Harrelson as a mentalist,
Jesse Eisenberg as an illusionist, Isla Fisher as an escape artist and
Dave Franco as a pickpocket, who was really impressive, make their roles
of magicians realistic while Michael Caine as a rich man who sponsors
their act, and for some unexplained reason disappears from the movie
while Morgan Freeman is a man who exposes magicians and their tricks,
are always entertaining to watch.

The
screenplay by Ed Solomon, Boaz Yakin and Edward Ricourt, along with
direction by Louis Leterrier, photography by Larry Fong and Mitchell
Amundsen plus the eye catching production design by Peter Wenham and
visual effects supervisor Nicholas Brooks make “Now You See Me” a
pleasant diversion. The music by Brian Tyler is loud, as most musical
soundtracks are in action films, and Ruffalo needing that shave,  along
with the explanation at the end having to be heard again, are minor
complaints regarding a film about magic that you can just sit back and
enjoy the actors, scenery and razzamatazz!