Now You See Me (film)
| Now You See Me | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Louis Leterrier |
| Produced by | |
| Screenplay by |
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| Story by |
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| Starring | |
| Music by | Brian Tyler |
| Cinematography | |
| Edited by |
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Production company | |
| Distributed by | Lionsgate Films |
Release dates |
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Running time | 115 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $75 million[2][3] |
| Box office | $351.7 million[3] |
Now You See Me is a 2013 American heist thriller film directed by Louis Leterrier. The film stars Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Mélanie Laurent, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman.
Released on May 31, 2013, the film received mixed reviews from critics but became a box office success. A sequel, Now You See Me 2, is set for release on June 10, 2016.
Plot
Four magicians—J. Daniel "Danny" Atlas (Eisenberg), Merritt McKinney (Harrelson), Henley Reeves (Fisher), and Jack Wilder (Franco)—are brought together by an unknown benefactor after finding tarot cards that direct them together. A year later, the four are performing in Las Vegas as "The Four Horsemen" with financing by insurance magnate Arthur Tressler (Caine). For the finale of their show they declare they will rob the bank of a randomly selected audience member, Étienne Forcier, an account holder at the Crédit Républicain de Paris. Etienne dons a camera equipped helmet and is teleported into the vault of his bank in Paris, France where a pile of freshly printed Euros awaits. The Horsemen instruct Etienne to leave a calling card, whereupon an air duct vacuums up the money and showers it onto the Las Vegas crowd. Upon the discovery that the money really is missing from the bank vault, a reluctant FBI agent Dylan Rhodes (Ruffalo) is called to investigate the theft and is partnered with Interpol agent Alma Dray (Laurent). Dylan interrogates the arrogant magicians and is convinced of their guilt, but is forced to release them due to lack of evidence.
Dylan and Alma meet with Thaddeus Bradley (Freeman), a former magician who professionally reveals the secrets behind other magicians' tricks. Thaddeus deduces the Horsemen stole the money from the armored car transporting the money to the bank, and replaced it with counterfeit money printed on flash paper; the real money was showered onto the crowd while the fake money was burned leaving no evidence. The three go to the group's next performance in New Orleans, where the Horsemen steal millions from Tressler's bank account and distribute it to the audience, composed of victims of Hurricane Katrina whose insurance claims had been denied or reduced by Tressler's company. Dylan attempts to apprehend the Horsemen, but they escape via disappearing trick. Tressler hires Thaddeus to expose and humiliate the Horsemen in their next performance. Meanwhile, Alma suggests to Dylan the group might be tied to a ancient secret society of magicians called "the Eye", who claim to have access to real magic. One of their members, a man named Lionel Shrike, died during a failed escape attempt from a safe decades ago, an attempt to rebuild his career after Thaddeus exposed his tricks. Alma believes there might be a "Fifth Horseman" who is aiding the group off-stage.
The FBI tracks the magicians to New York, and they flee. Jack stays behind to finish destroying the Horsemen's files, but is forced to flee with some key documents when Dylan arrives. Jack leads police on a high-speed car chase, but he loses control and crashes; Dylan retrieves the documents but the car explodes, killing Jack. The FBI deduce from the recovered documents that the Horsemen are planning to steal a cash-filled safe owned by the Elkhorn Safe Company, and head to the warehouse where the safe is located. The safe is missing, but they are able to track it and hope it leads them to the Horsemen. The Horsemen announce they will perform their final trick at 5 Pointz and invite the public to attend. The FBI catch up to the stolen safe at 5 Pointz just before the show begins, but to their dismay, the safe is a fake filled with balloon animals. The new lead investigator spots the Horsemen atop a building as the show starts. After making their farewell speech wherein they lay claim to a noble purpose, the three remaining magicians jump as Dylan and Alma reach them. Dylan tries to shoot at them as they leap from the roof, but Alma knocks his arm away. As they begin to fall, the three magically transform into a shower of bills that rain down on the crowd, but this is an illusion; the real Horsemen escape over the rooftops. The money distributed to the crowd is counterfeit, with the real money stuffed in Thaddeus' car. He is arrested, presumed to be the Fifth Horseman.
Dylan visits Thaddeus in his cell and Thaddeus begins to reveal how the Horsemen stole the money, and believes they must have an inside man, whereupon he realizes it is Dylan. Dylan tells Thaddeus to spend the rest of his life in jail and leaves. Jack, alive and well, rejoins the Horsemen in Central Park. They use their Tarot cards to make a key that starts up the merry-go-round. Dylan emerges to reveal himself as their secret benefactor and to welcome the horsemen to the Eye. At the Pont des Arts in France, Alma is met by Dylan, who reveals himself to be Lionel Shrike's son. He masterminded the Horsemen plot as revenge on those involved: Thaddeus, for humiliating his father and forcing him to try a risky stunt to revive his career; the Crédit Républicain de Paris and Tressler's company, who refused to pay the insurance on his father's death; and Elkhorn, the company that produced the substandard safe used in the trick that led to its failure. Alma decides not to turn him in. She takes a lock and a key that Dylan produces, putting the lock on a chain fence and throwing the key into the Seine.
Cast
- Jesse Eisenberg as J. Daniel "Danny" Atlas (The Lover), an arrogant illusionist and street magician, and the publicly seen leader of the Four Horsemen.
- Mark Ruffalo as Dylan Rhodes, an FBI agent working to find and capture the Four Horsemen, and later revealed to be the benefactor
- Woody Harrelson as Merritt McKinney (The Hermit), a hypnotist, mentalist, and a self-proclaimed psychic. Originally a more famous hypnotist and mentalist in his youth, he was doing well until his brother, who was also his manager, stole all his money and ran off, leaving McKinney with a long hard trek back to his former glory, personally, professionally and financially, when he was left the 'Hermit' card. Middle-aged, McKinney is the oldest of the Four Horsemen.
- Isla Fisher as Henley Reeves (The High Priestess), an escapist and stage magician. She is also J. Daniel Atlas' former assistant.
- Dave Franco as Jack Wilder (Death), a sleight of hand illusionist, street magician, and a talented impressionist of other people's voices. Additionally, he is a pickpocket, and is able to pick locks. In his early twenties, Wilder is also the youngest of the Four Horsemen, so he looks up to the others (particularly Atlas), and is always more nervous than the rest of them.
- Mélanie Laurent as Alma Dray, a French Interpol agent who is partnered up with Dylan Rhodes to investigate the bank theft and Rhodes' love interest.
- Morgan Freeman as Thaddeus Bradley, an ex-magician who, for thirty years, has made money by revealing the secrets behind other magicians' tricks.
- Michael Caine as Arthur Tressler, an insurance magnate and the Four Horsemen's sponsor.
- Michael Kelly as Agent Fuller, an FBI agent who serves as Rhodes' sidekick.
- Common as Agent Evans, Rhodes's supervisor at the FBI.
- José Garcia as Étienne Forcier, the account holder at the Crédit Républicain de Paris.
- Caitriona Balfe as Jasmine Tressler, Arthur Tressler's young wife.
- Elias Koteas (uncredited) as Lionel Shrike, a magician who drowned while performing a trick thirty years earlier.
Production
Filming
On-set incident
During filming of the scene where Henley Reeves tries to escape from a tank of water and piranhas, Isla Fisher came close to drowning. Fisher had become stuck and tried to alert the crew by banging on the window she was facing, but the cast and crew did not think anything of it because that was what the character was supposed to be doing. She was able to untangle the chain and get out of the tank safely.[4]
Music
| Now You See Me (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by Brian Tyler | ||||
| Released | May 28, 2013 | |||
| Recorded | 2013 | |||
| Genre | Soundtrack | |||
| Length | 51:21 | |||
| Label | Glassnote | |||
| Producer | Brian Tyler | |||
| Brian Tyler chronology | ||||
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The official soundtrack was composed by Brian Tyler, and was released on May 28, 2013, for physical purchase and digital download.[5]
| No. | Title | Music | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Now You See Me" | Brian Tyler | 5:26 |
| 2. | "The Four Horsemen" | Brian Tyler | 3:34 |
| 3. | "Now You See Me (Reprise)" | Brian Tyler | 1:49 |
| 4. | "Sun" (Jesse Marco Remix) | Two Door Cinema Club | 4:45 |
| 5. | "Now You Don't" | Brian Tyler | 4:21 |
| 6. | "Entertainment" | Phoenix | 3:38 |
| 7. | "Sleight of the Mind" | Brian Tyler | 4:45 |
| 8. | "Now You See Me" (Robert DeLong Remix) | Brian Tyler | 3:40 |
| 9. | "Welcome to the Eye" | Brian Tyler | 5:49 |
| 10. | "Codec" | Zedd | 6:01 |
| 11. | "Cineramascope" (featuring Trombone Shorty and Corey Henry) | Galactic | 3:14 |
| 12. | "Now You See Me" (Spellbound Remix) | Brian Tyler | 4:19 |
Total length: |
51:21 | ||
Release
Critical reception
Now You See Me received mixed reviews from critics. The film's most common criticism is that various plot points were insufficiently resolved at the film's conclusion, leaving some questions unanswered or answered unclearly (although it has been suggested that this was intentional, leaving room for a sequel).[6] Based on 149 reviews from film critics, Rotten Tomatoes rated the film 49%, with the site's consensus saying "Now You See Me's thinly sketched characters and scattered plot rely on sleight of hand from the director to distract audiences."[7] Metacritic assigned the film a score of 50 out of 100, indicating "mixed or average reviews", based on reviews from 35 mainstream critics.[8]
Peter Hammond from Movieline wrote, "Pure summer movie magic—literally. More fun than Ocean's 11, 12, and 13 combined. You won't believe your eyes—and that's the point."[9]
Audience polls conducted by CinemaScore give the film a rating of an A–.[10]
Box office
Despite mixed reviews, the film had a successful box office run, placed second behind Fast & Furious 6 and taking $29,350,389 on its opening weekend from 2,925 theaters. By the end of June, it had grossed double its production budget.[3] The film stayed in the top 10 of the North American box office for six weeks after release. The film earned $117,723,989 at the North American domestic box office and $234,000,000 internationally, totaling $351,723,989 worldwide against a $75 million budget.
Accolades
| Year | Award | Category | Recipient | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | People's Choice Awards | Favorite Thriller Movie | Won | |
| Empire Awards | Best Thriller | Nominated | ||
| Saturn Awards | Best Thriller Film | Nominated | ||
| Best Music | Brian Tyler | Nominated | ||
Home media
Now You See Me was released on DVD and Blu-ray on September 3, 2013. The Blu-ray release contains an extended version of the film, with ten additional minutes, bringing the film to a 125-minute runtime.[11] It also contains two featurettes: a behind-the-scenes and a "History of Magic", plus 30 minutes of deleted scenes.
Sequels
On July 3, 2013, after the box office success of the film, Lionsgate's CEO Jon Feltheimer officially confirmed that there would be a sequel to the film with production beginning in 2014 for an unspecified release date.[12] Louis Leterrier stated that he would return to direct the sequel.[13] However, in September 2014, it was confirmed that Jon M. Chu would replace Leterrier as director. Eisenberg, Ruffalo, Harrelson, Franco, Caine and Freeman are set to reprise their roles for the sequel. Fisher was unable to reprise her role and was replaced by Lizzy Caplan. It is set to be released on June 10, 2016, and will be titled Now You See Me: The Second Act.[14] On October 2, 2014, Michael Caine said in an interview that Daniel Radcliffe would be playing his son in the film and that shooting was expected to begin that December in London.[15] Filming began in late November.[16] On May 22, 2015, Lionsgate revealed the details about the development of the sequel, when CEO Jon Feltheimer announced that they had "already begun early planning for Now You See Me 3."[17]
References
- ↑ "NOW YOU SEE ME (12A)". British Board of Film Classification. May 28, 2013. Retrieved May 28, 2013.
- ↑ Kaufman, Amy. "'Fast & Furious 6' to speed past 'After Earth' at the box office". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 2, 2013.
"Now You See Me" cost roughly $75 million
- 1 2 3 "Now You See Me (2013)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved June 30, 2013.
- ↑ Graham, Caroline (May 11, 2013). "'"I feared that I was about to drown": Isla Fisher reveals moment daring underwater stunt went terrifyingly wrong". Dailymail.co.uk. Retrieved December 10, 2014.
- ↑ "Various Artists - Now You See Me [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]". Allmusic. allmusic.com. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
- ↑ "Review: 'Now You See Me' Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher & Mark Ruffalo | The Playlist". Blogs.indiewire.com. Retrieved June 2, 2013.
- ↑ Now You See Me at Rotten Tomatoes
- ↑ "Now You See Me". Metacritic. Retrieved November 25, 2014.
- ↑ "Now You See Me - Movie Review". Youtube.com/user/MovielineNetwork. Retrieved May 30, 2013.
- ↑ Stewart, Andrew (June 2, 2013). "‘Now You See Me’ Pulls $28 Mil-Plus Rabbit, Beating ‘After Earth’ With $27 Mil". Variety. Retrieved June 22, 2014.
- ↑ "Now You See Me Arrives on Blu-ray and DVD September 3". ComingSoon.net. CraveOnline. August 13, 2013. Retrieved August 13, 2013.
- ↑ Brew, Simon (August 13, 2013). "'Now You See Me' to get sequel". Den of Geek. Retrieved September 10, 2014.
- ↑ Douglas, Edward (August 28, 2013). "'Exclusive: Louis Leterrier Back for Now You See Me Sequel". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved September 10, 2014.
- ↑ "Lionsgate Sets Dates for Now You See Me 2 and Dirty Grandpa". ComingSoon.net. September 9, 2014. Retrieved September 10, 2014.
- ↑ "Daniel Radcliffe to Play Michael Caine's Son in NOW YOU SEE ME 2". GeekTyrant.com. October 2, 2014. Retrieved October 2, 2014.
- ↑ Mark Ruffalo. "And so it begins... Now You See Me...again.". Mark Ruffalo Facebook. Retrieved November 25, 2014.
- ↑ McNary, Dave (May 22, 2015). "‘Now You See Me 3′ in the Works at Lionsgate". variety.com. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
External links
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Wikiquote has quotations related to: Now You See Me (film) |
- Official website
- Now You See Me at the Internet Movie Database
- Now You See Me at AllMovie
- Now You See Me at Box Office Mojo
- Now You See Me at Rotten Tomatoes
- Now You See Me at Metacritic
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