Z/Web

Gimmick films like this always make me wary and I was right to go into this with muted expectations. Surprisingly, the first half of the film exceeded those, but as is so often the case it’s the final third that disappoints.

The film’s trailers set up the premise well: a group of four magicians apparently pull of a Paris bank heist in the middle of their Vegas performance. The FBI and Interpol are on the case, trying to figure out how these magicians did the trick. This sets up a wonderful battle of wits between the magicians and the crusty FBI agent.

Unfortunately, that’s where it starts to disappoint, because the FBI agent is so inferior there’s really not much of a battle.

The film did do several things I didn’t expect that pleased me. First, the they reveal how the Paris trick was done; I had worried they’d leave it a mystery. Second, I had assumed from the previews that the magicians do a series of robberies, so after the first one the subsequent ones could have seemed repetitive, but each of the additional performances is unique.

Unfortunately, the climatic one isn’t as good as the first two, and that’s when the plot unravels and all you have left are holes and confusion.

I can’t get into the specifics of the flaws in the plot without spoiling everything, so I won’t. But I will say that the big “reveal” at the end was obvious to me about 30 minutes into the movie (though I wasn’t certain as the film does create a lot of red herrings that were also possibilities). It’s a forced plot twist that feels artificial and too complicated, and it doesn’t make sense.

There’s tons more wrong with the film — great actors wasted in odd small roles, a weird romance that never flares but is supposed to be hot, and severely underdeveloped magician characters — but for all the film’s flaws, it’s still quite entertaining. The magic shows are done extremely well, and there’s enough happening with the plot that the story moves along at a good pace. The acting and directing are all good, so it’s really only the plot that’s weak. But even that is forgivable if you go into this with the right expectations. Don’t expect brilliance or an amazing twist and you’ll have a good time.