Turning Freeman into the Movie's De Facto On-Camera Narrator: 'Now You See Me''s Neatest Trick

In many movies, turning an actor into the on-camera narrator can be a clunky move, but not in 'Now You See Me.' The film's third act revolves around tweaking Morgan Freeman's all-knowing screen persona, and he makes the most of it. As the magicians are investigated by a surly agent (Mark Ruffalo) and an Interpol detective (Mélanie Laurent), they know the Four Horsemen are involved in the crime, but can't figure out how.

The Four Horsemen, comprised of Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Woody Harrelson, and Dave Franco, are on the run from a smug ex-magician who has made a fortune revealing the secrets behind well-known illusions. The next day, they're brought in for questioning by the FBI after an audience member's bank is robbed, and a prop used in their magic act is found at the scene.

The magicians' big finale involves presenting a complicated illusion where a random audience member appears to be teleported into his bank vault. A hoodie-wearing stranger slips each of them a Tarot card inscribed with a date and New York address. The film then flashes forward to Las Vegas, where the four now perform as a headlining act called the Four Horsemen.

The movie opens by introducing the four leads: a cocky street magician (Jesse Eisenberg), his former assistant (Isla Fisher), whose solo act focuses on gory stunts; a once-famous mentalist (Woody Harrelson) who's been reduced to using cold reading and hypnosis to shake down people for cash; and a sleight-of-hand artist (Dave Franco, brother of James) who moonlights as a pickpocket.

The film is slick, deliberately silly, and sprinkled with visual confetti - Steadicam spins, lens flares, CGI trick shots. Like his two 'Transporter' movies, it's light on seriousness and heavy on style - a razzle-dazzle fantasy about a team of bank-robbing illusionists. In some ways, director Louis Leterrier's new film is a return to his roots.

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