It was originally called The Eye of Horus, an Egyptian god. Eventually we learn that the centuries-old secret order of master magicians the crew is being invited to join is a clandestine fraternity of prestidigitators that dates back to ancient Egypt. They’re recruited via Tarot cards that bear four characters: a Hermit, Death, a High Priestess, and a Lover. The Four Horsemen moniker is, of course, a reference to the four horsemen of the apocalypse in Revelation. At one point he’s dubbed the “Cardinal of Clairvoyance,” though it’s clear he’s doesn’t have any paranormal or supernatural powers. Merritt, a master hypnotist, repeatedly hypnotizes people. She repeatedly talks about the importance of believing and having faith-though, tellingly, what she believes in and what she thinks we should have faith in are never spelled out. He’s concrete and rationalistic, while she’s a bit of mystic. But that’s likely not going to be enough to stop the apocalyptically named, Robin Hood-imitating magicians from pulling off their most audacious stunt yet … and then disappearing into the seedy core of the Big Apple as the newest members of The Eye.Īlma and Rhodes have very different attitudes toward mystery and the possibility of some bigger, overarching story being woven into our lives. Time for their final act: pilfering $5 billion from a massive vault deep in a warehouse in New York City.
It’s there, though, that they drain Tressler’s own account of $143 million, depositing it in audience members’ accounts-with Alma and Rhodes looking on, powerless to stop them. Meanwhile (and isn’t there always a meanwhile in a big production like this?), business magnate Arthur Tressler, who’s bankrolling the Four Horsemen, knows a good thing when he sees it and, presto, they’ve got another gig, this time in the Big Easy. When their theories about what’s happened go up in stage smoke, however, they’re forced to turn to someone with more expertise: former magician turned magic-debunker Thaddeus Bradley, who’s made a fortune selling videos that show how magicians do their tricks. Helping him is French Interpol agent Alma Dray. And FBI agent Dylan Rhodes is determined to discover how the magicians pulled off their heist. The FBI and Interpol, however, are reasonably sure it wasn’t real magic that relieved said bank of so much of its cash. So does the audience, which is now millions richer as bank notes-somehow making the instantaneous return trip to America-rain down upon them. He thinks he’s been magically zapped into his bank’s vault. Their trick? “Teleporting” a member of the audience to his bank in France, where he helps them steal 2.6 million euros. In a flash, our intrepid “heroes,” now dubbed the Four Horsemen, are performing a show in Las Vegas. It’s a trick that doubles as an initiation for a shadowy, super-secret cadre of the world’s best magicians known as The Eye. Now, upon their arrival at the mysterious address-an abandoned apartment-the magicians find a holographic blueprint for a trick so preposterous, so outrageous that none of them could ever pull it off alone. And, finally, Daniel’s former assistant (and ex-girlfriend) Henley Reeves is a Houdini-style escape artist whose latest show involves a tank of water, handcuffs and … piranhas.
#Now you see me 3 how to
Jack Wilder knows how to work a crowd too-both in terms of his illusions and the pockets he picks along the way. Merritt McKinley is a disgraced former celebrity hypnotist and mentalist who now bilks the weak-minded out of their cash. Daniel Atlas is a prestidigitator who, despite his world-class sleight-of-hand skills, still finds himself performing card tricks on the sidewalk. It is, in the words of one of Now You See It’s magicians, “targeted deception.”Īnd there are plenty of targets and plenty of deception in this movie.Īs the curtain opens, four talented-but-struggling New York City magicians receive something of a summons: a Tarot card with an address, time and date.īut before I tell you what happens when they answer that summons, I must do what any good emcee would, and that is introduce the people on the stage: J. Of keeping us from seeing something that we should have noticed. Of making us believe we’ve seen something when we haven’t. What is stage magic? It is nothing more-or less���than the art of misdirection.