History Film / NowYouSeeMe

It is about a group of Robin Hood-style magicians called the Four Horsemen. The Horsemen are J. Daniel Atlas (Creator/JesseEisenberg), a professional street magician who specializes in escalating card tricks; Merritt [=McKinney=] (Creator/WoodyHarrelson), a hypnotist, mentalist and mind reader; Henley Reeves (Creator/IslaFisher), an escape artist and the sole woman in the troupe; and Jack Wilder (Dave Franco), a street artist, voice imitator and MasterOfUnlocking. They use their illusions to steal money and give it to their audience despite the impossibility of it. As they become more infamous, an FBI agent and an Interpol detective chase after them.

* ComicallyMissingThePoint: When HypnoFool Evans is mimicking a the violin player, agent Cowan asks what this is, upon which Dylan answers: "I think it's Beethoven's Concerto in D-Major."

** Leonard Shrike was killed trying to restore his reputation with a bigger and better escape act.

* VivaLasVegas: said by Merritt [[spoiler:as they get Etienne Forcier to make a trip as part of their plan/show]]. They even do a show in Las Vegas.

* ShipTease: With Danny and Henley, who were apparently involved at one point in the past; Henley actually got her start as a magician with a job as Danny's assistant. [[spoiler: In their final scene, they join hands before hopping on the carousel.]]

-->--'''Thaddeus Bradley'''

-->'''Henley:''' It doesn't take a mentalist to figure that out.
You are a control freak.\\

* HotOnHisOwnTrail / WildGooseChase: This amusingly happens to Rhodes in which he ends up tracking himself through New Orleans when Jack drops the tracker into his pocket.

* ImprovisedWeapon[=/=]ImprobableAimingSkills: When cornered by Rhodes, Jack Wilder fights him off first by flinging burning flash paper at him and, when that doesn't work, throwing playing cards.
* InsultBackfire: When Thaddeus refers to the Horsemen as "[coming] a long way from a bunch of wannabes and has-beens", Merrit immediately thanks him for referring to him as a "has-been" due to considering himself a "never-was".

* CompleteTheQuoteTitle: The film is about what you ''don't'' see and title is taken from the phrase for a common magician's trick; "Now you see me, Now you don't"

* GreaterScopeParagon: The Eye, an ancient order of magicians dedicated to "balancing the scales of Justice", and who direct the actions of the Four Horseman throughout. More specifically [[spoiler: Dylan Shrike as the Fifth Horseman in the first one, and Thaddeus Bradley, who was really Dylan's father's partner and has been watching him the entire time.]]

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nysm.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''[[TagLine 4 amazing magicians. 3 impossible heists. 1 billion dollars. This is no illusion.]]'']]

-->-- '''Thaddeus Bradley'''

* EscapeArtist: Henley Reeves in her opening act [[DrowningPit escaping from the water tank]].

[[caption-width-right:350:''[[TagLine]] 4 amazing magicians. 3 impossible heists. 1 billion dollars. This is no illusion.'']]

[[quoteright:290:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Now_You_See_Me_Poster_2861.jpg]]

-> ''"Come in closer, because the more you think you see, the easier it'll be to fool you."''

* CycleOfRevenge: Early promotion for the sequel indicate that Daniel Radcliffe will play [[spoiler: Arthur Tressler's]] son, seeking to bring the Horsemen to justice for what they did to his father [[spoiler: pretty much exactly like Rhodes.]]

Watch the trailer [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzJNYYkkhzc here]]. A sequel, titled ''Now You See Me: The Second Act'' was announced in November 2014 for a 2016 release.

* AncientTradition: The Eye, a group dating back to AncientEgypt dedicated to protecting true magic and using it to "balance the scales of justice", are orchestrating the Four Horsemen's performances as a way to test them for membership. [[spoiler: Dylan turns out to be a member, and by the end, the Horsemen are in.]]

** Thaddeus assures that Arthur is only a distraction for the final act. [[spoiler: The third act's prime target is Thaddeus Bradley himself.]]

%%* FlippingTheBird

* LenoDevice: ConanOBrien appears on his talk show and interviews Tressler via Skype.

* OnceMoreWithClarity: When Bradley explains how the Horsemen carried out their tricks.

* RedHerring: [[spoiler:Alma. Even she never knew Dylan was the Fifth Horseman.]]

* StealthHiBye: Behind Bradley's back, Dylan magically transports from being inside the cell to the outside.

** During Bradley and Tressler's confrontation, the latter is playing with a voodoo doll upon which Bradley comments "... one who uses a doll to enact one's own wrath, is likely to bring that very wrath unto himself." Later Tressler is indeed being punished for his corruption.