《惊天魔盗团》系列：十张信息图带你全面了解
内容总结：
《惊天魔盗团》系列：魔术与侠盗的银幕奇迹
自2013年首部电影上映以来，《惊天魔盗团》系列以“魔术师化身侠盗”的高概念设定，成功打造了一个融合炫目戏法、高速节奏与巨额劫案的奇幻世界。尽管初期影评认为其剧情逻辑薄弱、角色塑造单薄，但观众却对影片华丽的视觉风格、紧凑的叙事以及杰西·艾森伯格、马克·鲁弗洛、伍迪·哈里森与摩根·弗里曼等全明星阵容青睐有加。该系列凭借7500万美元的成本，在全球收获超3亿美元票房，成功实现票房“魔术”，并发展为狮门影业旗下具有国际影响力的长效IP。第三部《惊天魔盗团：魔幻终极》已于2024年11月14日上映，第四部电影也已进入筹备阶段。
系列剧情脉络
- 《惊天魔盗团》（2013）：四位顶尖魔术师受神秘组织“天眼”招募，组成“四骑士”，在观众面前实施大型劫案并将财富分给需要帮助的人。
- 《惊天魔盗团2》（2016）：四骑士被迫为科技巨头执行全球性任务，盗取能破解全球系统的核心芯片。
- 《惊天魔盗团：魔幻终极》（2024）：故事设定于第二部十年后，五名骑士与三名年轻魔术师联手，策划盗取世界最珍贵钻石的惊天行动。
现实魔术师的灵感源泉
影片中魔术的设计汲取了多位传奇魔术师的精髓：大卫·科波菲尔的大型幻术、大卫·布莱恩的现代街头魔法、哈利·胡迪尼的逃脱术，以及安德烈·吉赫的纸牌手法与基思·巴里的催眠术，均为角色能力与剧情构建提供了现实基础。
影史经典劫案场景
系列中令人印象深刻的“魔术劫案”包括：巴黎至拉斯维加斯的远程银行盗窃、纽奥良保险巨头账户现场转移、澳门研发中心芯片窃取等。这些桥段将魔术手法与犯罪创意结合，成为系列标志性看点。
魔术与现实的交错
尽管电影中大部分魔术在技术上可能实现，但其呈现效果高度依赖电影化的夸张处理。例如“洗牌迫牌”技巧通过镜头剪辑强化心理暗示，“飞牌伤人”需经长期训练，而水下逃脱术则依赖预先设置的机关保障安全。
现实中的“魔盗团”式案件
历史上一些真实案件亦展现出类似的大胆与戏剧性，如2025年卢浮宫白日劫案、2009年斯德哥尔摩直升机抢案及1990年波士顿博物馆伪装警察盗窃案，皆以精心策划与公然挑衅的特点，呼应了电影中的“表演式犯罪”。
同类题材影视推荐
若喜爱该系列，还可观看《致命魔术》（2006）、《魔术师》（2006/2010）、《超级魔术师》（2013）、《魔术师》（1958）、《巫师学徒》（2010）及《诡术》（2016）等影片，从不同维度探索魔术与人生的交集。
《惊天魔盗团》系列以魔术为外壳，包裹着侠义与悬疑的内核，持续吸引着全球观众沉浸于虚实交织的奇幻盛宴之中。
中文翻译：
如果一群超级魔术师运用他们的天赋和训练，策划并实施精心设计的盗窃案，会是什么样的情景？这正是《惊天魔盗团》系列电影的核心概念。2013年《惊天魔盗团》首部上映时，影评界反响平平，认为这部影片不过是一部角色单薄、情节漏洞频出的盗窃题材电影。然而，《惊天魔盗团》却成功上演了一场绝地反击——观众们深深喜爱影片炫目的风格、紧凑的节奏以及星光熠熠的阵容，包括杰西·艾森伯格、马克·鲁弗洛、伍迪·哈里森和摩根·弗里曼等大牌明星。最终，影片创造了票房奇迹：以7500万美元的成本，在全球收获了超过3亿美元的票房。自此，《惊天魔盗团》为发行方狮门影业发展成为一个国际性的成功长线系列：第三部已于11月14日上映，而第四部已在筹备之中。
与所有长盛不衰的系列电影一样，《惊天魔盗团》的世界观也可能令人困惑。因此，我们整理了10张信息图，为您揭开《惊天魔盗团》的魔法面纱。首先，快速回顾一下每一部电影：
《惊天魔盗团》（2013年）：系列开篇之作，向我们介绍了被称为“四骑士”的窃贼兼幻术师。这些业界顶尖的魔术师被一个名为“天眼”的神秘秘密组织招募，在观众面前实施大规模盗窃，然后将钱财分发给需要帮助的人。
《惊天魔盗团2》（2016年）：续集拓展了第一部电影的世界观，带来了更大的盗窃案、更深的秘密和更有趣的笑料。在首部曲结尾销声匿迹后，四骑士于一年后重出江湖，并被一位试图窃取全球隐私的科技巨头胁迫，进行一场全球性的盗窃。
《惊天魔盗团：魔幻终章》（2025年）：故事设定在上部电影的十年后，五位骑士与三位傲慢的年轻罪犯兼幻术师联手，策划了他们迄今为止最大胆的奇袭：盗窃世界上最有价值的钻石。
四骑士背后的现实世界魔术师
《惊天魔盗团》系列电影以一种半现实主义（尽管高度风格化）的方式呈现舞台魔术。为了确保真实感，影片从历史上一些最伟大的魔术师身上汲取灵感，包括：
大卫·科波菲尔：四骑士那些超越现实的幻术/盗窃，比如在拉斯维加斯表演时盗走银行金库内的财物，似乎受到了魔术师大卫·科波菲尔壮举的启发，他的魔术成就包括飞越大峡谷和让自由女神像消失。
大卫·布莱恩：街头魔术师大卫·布莱恩的影子贯穿整个《惊天魔盗团》系列。如果没有布莱恩对魔术现代、粗粝风格的诠释所带来的人气，《惊天魔盗团》系列电影很可能不会存在。
哈里·胡迪尼：任何关于舞台魔术的创作最终都受到有史以来最伟大魔术师胡迪尼的启发。胡迪尼大胆的逃脱术启发了系列中引发事件的魔术师莱昂内尔·施赖克之死，以及开场戏中亨莉·里维斯从水族箱中逃脱的场景。
安德烈·吉赫：吉赫的纸牌手法技巧在所有四骑士身上都有体现，尤其是在杰克·怀尔德身上。吉赫曾担任《惊天魔盗团》的顾问。
基思·巴里：另一位《惊天魔盗团》的魔术顾问，爱尔兰心灵术士基思·巴里开创并推广了角色梅里特·麦金尼所使用的许多催眠术和心灵术技巧。
四骑士最伟大的盗窃案
四骑士不仅以幻术技巧闻名，其盗窃行径同样“声名远扬”。以下是他们最令人难忘的盗窃、抢劫、骗局和入室行窃。
巴黎至拉斯维加斯的银行抢劫案
在这起让我们初识四骑士的奇案中，魔术师们在拉斯维加斯当众表演的同时，抢劫了巴黎的一家银行。他们从观众中挑选了一个看似随机的人，告诉他他将抢劫自己的银行——巴黎共和信贷银行。然后，他们似乎将他瞬间传送到了法国，他闯入银行金库，按下一个真空机器的按钮，钱似乎就从巴黎被吸到了拉斯维加斯，如雨般落在观众头上。
特雷斯勒保险欺诈案
在新奥尔良的一场表演中，四骑士介绍了他们的赞助人——保险大亨亚瑟·特雷斯勒，然后在舞台上清空了他的个人银行账户，将钱存入现场观众的账户中，而这些观众全都是特雷斯勒保险公司拒绝赔付的卡特里娜飓风受害者。
澳门数据芯片盗窃案
在《惊天魔盗团2》中，四骑士被邪恶的科技巨头沃尔特·马布里胁迫，去窃取一枚能够解密并暴露世界上所有系统的尖端计算机芯片。该芯片存放在中国澳门一个高度安全的研究设施内，其大小恰好与一张扑克牌相仿，这使得四骑士得以运用纸牌手法和障眼法技巧，在守卫搜查他们时，成功将芯片带出大楼。
魔法城堡：现实中的鲁西永城堡
在《惊天魔盗团：魔幻终章》中，鲁西永城堡是终极魔术师的游乐场。天眼组织位于法国乡村庄园的总部，装点着令人费解的大型幻象，如旋转房间和镜厅。鲁西永城堡是真实存在的城堡，但电影制作人在影片中使用的是纳达斯迪城堡的外景。该建筑的主要灵感来源于一个真实地点：洛杉矶的魔法城堡。
魔法城堡于1963年开业，是一家面向魔术师的餐厅/俱乐部/会所，坐落于一栋俯瞰好莱坞的庄严维多利亚式宅邸中。魔法城堡不仅是《惊天魔盗团：魔幻终章》的魔术顾问，大部分演员也曾在城堡接受训练，为他们的角色做准备。
每日通讯
如果您想去参观，那并不容易：魔法城堡是一家仅限受邀者的私人俱乐部，因此您必须是魔术艺术学院的会员，或由会员邀请。但如果您没有魔术师朋友，可以预订附近魔法城堡酒店的一晚住宿，入住即会获得进入城堡的邀请。
“他们是怎么做到的？”
我与职业魔术师戴夫·考克斯一起分析了电影中的戏法。尽管四骑士的盗窃行为夸张至极，但《惊天魔盗团》系列电影中呈现的众多魔术技巧，除两个外，理论上都可以在现实生活中实现——但“理论上”这个词在这里承担了很大的解释空间。这些戏法在风格化的大片背景下是可能的，但在现实生活中极难同样奏效：一段即兴的、延长的纸牌手法表演，涉及四位魔术师在保安彻底搜查他们时互相传递一张扑克牌，这造就了激动人心的电影场景，但在现实中几乎肯定不可能如此顺利。
不过，以下是该系列中三个最具标志性的戏法在现实中可能的实现方式。
如何表演阿特拉斯的“快速拨牌强迫选牌”戏法
《惊天魔盗团》以一段独特的电影戏法开场。街头魔术师J·丹尼尔·阿特拉斯正在城市街道上为人群表演。他快速拨动一副牌，请一位观众“看一张牌”。当他的对象心中选定一张牌时，附近的一栋建筑亮起灯光，显示出一张巨大的方块七——正是对象心中所想的那张牌。
如果您是“在家跟着玩”的观众，这很神奇，因为您很可能也选择了方块七。这个戏法在现实生活中的做法与电影中相同：魔术师运用手法或使用特殊牌组，在目标牌上难以察觉地停留比其他牌稍长一点的时间。《惊天魔盗团》的导演在方块七上添加了一两帧的“停顿”，使您更可能想到那张牌。
杰克·怀尔德如何将纸牌作为武器投掷
虽然可能无法像《惊天魔盗团》中的角色那样精准或有力地投掷纸牌，但通过正确的技巧和大量练习，您可以非常快速地投掷扑克牌。
亨莉·里维斯如何从水族箱中逃脱
亨莉·里维斯的出场戏法是她从一个装满食人鱼的水族箱中逃脱，这是胡迪尼推广的那种经典逃脱术幻象的变体。水中逃脱很危险，但并没有看起来那么危险，因为它们都经过事先布置——没有理智的人会真的试图在水下手戴镣铐和锁链的情况下逃脱。
宛如出自《惊天魔盗团》电影的真实盗窃案
一群窃贼公开“表演”大规模抢劫，这纯粹是好莱坞的想象，但以下三起真实犯罪案件，与四骑士的盗窃案有着相似的表演性和大胆作风：
卢浮宫盗窃案（2025年）：最近卢浮宫发生的一起珠宝抢劫案，涉及一个高度专业且厚颜无耻的计划，在光天化日之下执行。窃贼使用卡车搭载的机械升降机，闯入二楼阳台窗户，进出时间不到八分钟。劫匪已全部落网，但拒不交代珠宝下落。
斯德哥尔摩直升机抢劫案（2009年）：这起惊心动魄的盗窃案涉及一个团伙使用偷来的警用直升机，降落在斯德哥尔摩郊区韦斯特贝里亚的G4S现金管理服务大楼楼顶。大胆的窃贼砸穿天窗，潜入大楼，盗走数百万现金，而警方则被放置在警用直升机附近的假炸弹所阻挠。七名男子被判入狱，但当局怀疑可能还有多达十人逍遥法外，3900万瑞典克朗的赃款也从未被追回。
伊莎贝拉·斯图尔特·加德纳博物馆盗窃案（1990年）：这起盗窃案涉及两名男子，他们伪装成波士顿警察，在博物馆刚开门时进入。两人说服一名保安放行，然后给其他保安戴上手铐，偷走了13件价值超过5亿美元的无价艺术品。尽管悬赏1000万美元，艺术品至今下落不明，也无人因此案被起诉。
给《惊天魔盗团》粉丝的另外七部电影
如果您已经看完了全部三部《惊天魔盗团》电影，仍然渴望魔法娱乐，不妨看看这七部关于魔法和魔术师的精彩电影，绝无水分：
《致命魔术》（2006年）：故事设定在19世纪末，那时你还不能直接谷歌搜索任何魔术戏法是如何完成的。那时，将女士锯成两半的秘密被严密守护，而由休·杰克曼和克里斯蒂安·贝尔饰演的《致命魔术》中的敌对魔术师，会不择手段地保守他们技艺的隐秘知识。
《魔术师》（2010年）：这部动画默片与《惊天魔盗团》系列形成鲜明对比。没有浮华与炫目，只有对一位魔术师与他世界中最后一个仍相信魔法的人之间关系的、安静而具毁灭性的人物研究。改编自法国电影传奇雅克·塔蒂的剧本，《魔术师》通过西维亚·乔迈 evocative 的动画讲述了这个私密的故事。它绝对会让您落泪。
《超级魔术师》（2013年）：《惊天魔盗团》系列极力否认这一点，但魔术确实有些俗气，魔术师也多是怪人。《超级魔术师》则拥抱了这种滑稽感，由史蒂夫·卡瑞尔和史蒂夫·布西密饰演过气的拉斯维加斯魔术师伯特·沃德斯通和安东·马维尔森，他们被金·凯瑞饰演的史蒂夫·格雷（一个类似克里斯·安吉尔的俗气魔术师，只是风格不同）所困扰。
《魔术师》（1958年）：马克斯·冯·叙多夫在《魔术师》中饰演标题角色，影片全部采用黑白摄影，没有人带着一堆钱逃脱，也没有任何机智的插科打诨。
《魔术师》（2006年）：是的，我在推荐两部同名电影。2006年的《魔术师》是一部氛围忧郁、节奏缓慢的悬疑/爱情片，在基调上与《惊天魔盗团》的浮华世界相去甚远，但两部电影都同样热爱巧妙的误导、复杂的魔术、“哇哦”式的揭秘和令人头晕目眩的情节转折。如果您喜欢《惊天魔盗团》中“魔法作为社会正义手段”的主题，您会喜欢《魔术师》。
《魔法师的学徒》（2010年）：《魔法师的学徒》由尼古拉斯·凯奇主演，他为自己饰演的每一个角色都带来了独特的魔力，这次他饰演一位真正的魔法师，生活在现代纽约市，代表全人类与黑暗魔法进行一场孤独的战争。杰伊·巴鲁切尔饰演他的学徒，两人使用魔法咒语与一位敌对魔法师战斗。
《魔诡》（2016年）：这部低成本、顽强的电影提供了一个关于幻术师走向犯罪的非常不同的视角。雅各布·拉蒂摩尔饰演一位年轻的街头魔术师，父母去世后，他独自照顾妹妹。魔术无法支付账单，于是他转向贩毒，并必须运用他的欺骗技巧和手法来求生。
英文来源：
What if a team of super magicians used their talent and training to stage elaborate heists? That’s the high concept that drives the Now You See Me franchise. Critics were lukewarm when Now You See Me was released in 2013, categorizing the film as a heist flick with thin characters and a plot that fell apart as often as it twisted, but Now You See Me pulled off its own escape act—audiences loved the movie's flashy style, whipsaw pace, and all-star cast featuring names like Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, and Morgan Freeman. The result was box office magic: a movie with a $75M budget that returned over $300M worldwide. Now You See Me has since grown into an internationally successful, long-term franchise for distributor Lionsgate: The third installment was released on Nov. 14, and a fourth Now You See Me film is already in development.
Like any long-running franchises, the Now You See Me-verse can be confusing, so we put together 10 infographics to pull back the curtain on Now You See Me's magic. First, a quick recap of each movie:
Now You See Me (2013): The initial entry in the series introduces us to the thieves/illusionists known as the “Four Horsemen.” These best-in-the-business magicians are recruited by a mysterious secret society called The Eye to pull off large-scale heists in front of live audiences, then distribute the money to the needy.
Now You See Me 2 (2016): The sequel expands the world of the first film, with bigger heists, deeper secrets, and funnier jokes. Having gone into hiding at the end of Now You See Me, The Horsemen resurface a year later and are coerced into a global heist by a tech mogul trying to steal all the privacy in the world.
Now You See Me: Now You Don't (2025): Set a decade after the last film, Now You See Me: Now You Don't features all five Horsemen teaming up with three cocky young criminals/illusionists to pull off their most audacious caper yet: the theft of the world's most valuable diamond.
The real-life magicians behind The Horsemen
The Now You See Me movies present stage magic in a semi-realistic (though highly stylized) way. To nail the realism, the films draw inspiration from some of the greatest magicians in history, including:
David Copperfield: The Horsemen’s larger-than-life illusions/heists like stealing the contents of a bank vault while performing a Vegas show seem inspired by the feats of magician David Copperfield, whose magical feats include flying over the Grand Canyon and vanishing the Statue of Liberty.
David Blaine: Street magician David Blaine’s shadow is all over the Now You See Me Movies. Without the popularity of Blaine’s modern, gritty take on magic, the Now You See Me movies would likely not exist.
Harry Houdini: Anything about stage magic is ultimately inspired by Houdini, the greatest magician of all time. Houdini's daring escape tricks inspired the series’ inciting incident, the death of magician Lionel Shrike, as well as the opening set piece where Henley Reeves escapes a water tank.
Andrei Jikh: Jikh’s cardistry skills are evident in all the Horsemen, particularly in Jack Wilder. Jikh served as a consultant on Now You See Me.
Keith Barry: Another Now You See Me magic consultant, Irish mentalist Keith Barry pioneered and popularized many of the hypnosis and mentalism feats used by character Merritt McKinney.
The Horsemen's greatest heists
The Horsemen are known as much for their larceny as their skills at illusion. Below are their most memorable heists, hold-ups, schemes, and burglaries.
The Paris-to-Vegas bank robbery
In the caper that introduces us to the Horsemen, the magicians rob a bank in Paris while performing before a crowd in Vegas. They choose a seemingly random person from the crowd and tell him he’s going to rob his own bank, the Crédit Républicain de Paris. Then they appear to teleport him to France, where he breaks into a bank vault, hits a button on a vacuum machine, and the money is seemingly sucked from Paris to Vegas where it rains down on the audience.
The Tressler Insurance heist
At a show in New Orleans, the Horsemen introduce their benefactor, insurance magnate Arthur Tressler, then proceed to drain his personal bank account while they’re onstage, depositing the money in the accounts of audience members, who all turn out to be victims of Hurricane Katrina that Tressler’s insurance company stiffed on repayments.
The Macau data chip theft
In Now You See Me 2, The Horsemen are coerced by evil tech magnate Walter Mabry to steal a cutting-edge computer chip that can decrypt and expose every system in the world. Housed in a highly secure research facility in Macau, China, the chip is conveniently the size of a playing card, allowing the Horsemen to use cardistry and sleight-of-hand skills to remove it from the building while being searched by guards.
The Magic Castle: the real-life Château de Roussillon
In Now You See Me Now You Don't, the Château de Roussillon is an ultimate magician's playground. The Eye's headquarters in a mansion in the French countryside is decked out with mind-bending large-scale illusions like rotating rooms and halls of mirrors. The Château de Roussillon is a real castle, but the filmmakers used Nádasdy Castle for the exterior shots in the movie. A main inspiration for the building is a real place: Los Angeles' Magic Castle.
Opened in 1963, the Magic Castle is a restaurant/club/clubhouse for magicians housed in a stately Victorian mansion overlooking Hollywood. Not only is The Magic Castle credited as magic consultants on Now You See Me: Now You Don't, much of the cast trained at the Castle to prepare for their roles.
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If you'd like to visit, it won't be easy: The Magic Castle is an invitation-only private club, so you have to be a member of the Academy of Magical Arts or be invited by a member. But if you aren't friends with a magician, you can book a night at the nearby Magic Castle Hotel, where a stay comes with an invitation to the Castle.
“How do they do that?”
I analyzed the tricks in the movies with professional magician Dave Cox, and as over the top as the Horsemen's heists are, all but two of the many magic tricks presented in the Now You See Me movies could technically be done in real life—but the word “technically” is doing a lot of work here. The tricks are possible within the context of a stylized blockbuster, but would be extremely unlikely to work as well in real life: an extended, impromptu cardistry routine involving four magicians passing a playing card between themselves while security guards thoroughly search them makes for exciting cinema, but almost definitely wouldn’t go that smoothly in reality.
But, here is how three of the most iconic tricks from the franchise could be done in real life.
How to do Atlas’s “riffle force” card trick
Now You See Me opens with a unique piece of cinematic trickery. Street magician J. Daniel Atlas is performing for a crowd on a city street. He riffles quickly through a deck of cards and asks a spectator to “see one card.” When his subject has a card in mind, a nearby building is lit up revealing a giant seven of diamonds, the card the subject was thinking of.
It’s amazing if you’re “playing along at home,” because the chances are very good that you chose the seven of diamonds too. The trick is done in real life the same way it’s done in the movies: The magician uses sleight of hand or a gimmicked deck to pause on the desired card imperceptibly longer than the other cards. The director of Now You See Me added a frame or two to “pause” on the seven of diamonds, making it more likely that you think of that card.
How Jack Wilder throws cards as weapons
While it’s probably not possible to throw a card as accurately or forcefully as the characters in Now You See Me, you can throw playing cards really fast with the right technique and a lot of practice.
How Henley Reeves escaped the water tank
Henley Reeves’ introduction is a trick where she escapes from a water tank filled with piranhas, a variation of the kind of classic escape artist illusions popularized by Houdini. Water escapes are dangerous, but not as dangerous as they might seem because they’re rigged—no sane person is really going to try to escape from handcuffs and chains while underwater.
Real-life heists that seem right out of the Now You See Me movies
A group of thieves publicly “performing” large-scale robberies is strictly Hollywood, but the three real-life crimes below share some of the showmanship and audacity of the Horsemen’s heists:
Louvre heist (2025): A recent jewelry-jacking at the Louvre involved a highly professional and brazen plan executed in broad daylight. The thieves used a truck-mounted mechanical lift to break into a second-floor balcony window and were in and out in less than eight minutes. The robbers have all been caught, but won't say where the jewels are.
Stockholm helicopter robbery (2009): This thrilling heist involved a gang using a stolen police helicopter to land on the roof of a G4S cash management service building in the Stockholm suburb of Västberga. The brazen thieves smashed through a skylight, lowered themselves into the building, and stole millions while police were stymied by fake bombs placed near the police helicopter. Seven men were sentenced to prison, but authorities suspect as many as ten more people may have gotten away with the crime, and the 39 million Swedish krona loot was never recovered.
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist (1990): This heist involved two men who disguised themselves as Boston police officers to gain entry into the museum just before it opened. The pair convinced one security guard to let them in, then handcuffed the rest of the guards and stole 13 priceless works of art valued at over $500 million. Despite a $10 million dollar reward, the art has never been recovered and no one has been charged with the crime.
Seven more movies for fans of Now You See Me
If you’ve watched all three NYSM movies and you’re still craving magical entertainment, check out these seven, all-killer no-filler movies about magic and magicians:
The Prestige (2006): The Prestige is set in the late 19th century, before you could just google how any magic trick was done. Back then, the secret of sawing a lady in half was closely guarded, and The Prestige’s rival magicians–played by Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale–will go to any length to keep the hidden knowledge of their craft.
The Illusionist (2010): This animated, silent feature provides a complete contrast to the Now You See Me movies. There’s no glitz or flash, just a quietly devastating character study of a magician’s relationship with the last person in his world who still believes in magic. Adapted from a screenplay by French cinema legend Jacques Tati, The Illusionist tells its intimate story through the evocative animation of Sylvain Chomet. It will definitely make you cry.
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013): The Now You See Me movies go to great lengths to deny it, but magic is cheesy and magicians are weirdoes. Burt Wonderstone leans into the goofiness by casting Steve Carell and Steve Buscemi as Burt Wonderstone and Anton Marvelson, past-their-prime Vegas magicians bedeviled by Jim Carrey's Steve Gray, a Criss Angel-esque magic man who’s a different flavor of cheesy.
The Magician (1958): Max von Sydow plays the title character in The Magician, where everything is shot in black-and-white and no one gets away with a bunch of money or engages in any witty banter.
The Illusionist (2006): Yes, I’m recommending two movies with the same title. 2006’s The Illusionist is a moody, slow-burn mystery/romance that’s tonally a world away from Now You See Me’s glitz, but both films share a love of clever misdirection, intricate magic, “woah” reveals, and head-spinning plot twists. If you like the “magic as a means of social justice” theme of NYSM, you’ll like The Illusionist.
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (2010): The Sorcerer’s Apprentice stars Nicolas Cage, who brings his own magic to every role, as a bonafide sorcerer who lives in modern New York City and fights a lonely war against dark magic on behalf of all mankind. Jay Baruchel plays his apprentice, and the pair use magical spells to battle a rival sorcerer.
Sleight (2016): This scrappy, low-budget flick provides a very different vision of an illusionist turning to crime. Jacob Latimore plays a young street magician who’s left to care for his sister after their parents die. Magic isn’t paying the bills, so he turns to drug dealing, and must use his skills at deception and sleight-of-hand to stay alive.