Now You See Me (12A)

You can tell the summer's here - weather is all over the place, Polish players at Wimbledon are being badly mispronounced on Sky Sports News, and the blockbuster movie is all over your local bus, advertising hoarding and multiplex.

And sometimes this is a good thing. Sometimes the big summer blockbuster is a thought-provoking effort that looks to stimulate the brain as well as the eyes (like as what Chris Nolan does). Sometimes it's made by Michael Bay.

And you can tell it's a summer blockbuster because it has a massive ad campaign, a plethora of stars and... actually, that seems to be all you need. A plot is always handy, obviously, but that's far from essential these days. Just look at the Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise.

Now You See Me is certainly going for it on the 'stars' front. As well as reuniting Zombielands' Jesse Eisenberg with Woody Harrelson, we have Isla Fisher (of The Great Gatsby, Rango and Home & Away fame), Dave Franco (recently of Warm Bodies), Morgan Freeman (not playing God), Michael Caine (who obviously fancied a weekend in Vegas) and Mark 'Hulk' Ruffalo.

So that's all good.

And it's fast paced, and looks pretty, so that's good too. Just don't expect to have to think too much.

The set-up is quite simple. Eisenberg, Harrelson, Fisher and Franco are all street hustlers and illusionists recruited by a Mystery Man to perform three daring tricks. At least that's supposed to be the plan. While Franco's Jack Wilder is certainly hustling, Eisenberg's Daniel Atlas is a bit more well known, Harrelson's Merritt McKinney is a 'mentalist' who's fallen on hard times and Fisher's Henley Reeves seems to have a perfectly successful escapology show going on. But go with it.

The idea of the three tricks is crime, starting with the bank job in Paris featured in the cinematic trailers (he stressed, to avoid anyone yelling "spoilers" at their screen). Because it happens in Paris, Interpol naturally send their best... ok, an agent (the woefully underused Melanie Laurent) to help solve the caper.

From here, the fun begins. Or should.

As Ruffalo races across America leading the FBI hunt like a headless chicken (helped by Interpol, obviously), mega-rich benefactor Arthur Tressler (Caine) watches as Freeman's TV magician-turncoat Thaddeus Bradley (no, really) explains to anyone who'll be patronised how it's all being done.

And that's pretty much it.

Obviously there's "more" to it than that, but there isn't much. There's lots of smoke and mirrors (actually, there's not much smoke but a hell of a lot of mirrors) as we are enticed to guess who's behind the whole shebang - with red herrings and false leads popping up like clowns from an over-stuffed car.

And that's part of the problem with Now You See Me. So keen are the writers (there are five in total, and it shows) and director Louis Leterrier (whose short CV boasts the first two Transporter movies, the second Hulk film and Clash Of The Titans) to make magic the star of the show, they forgot to actually add any depth. Look behind the curtain and there is nothing there. Maybe just a half-chewed carrot, left by a bored bunny.

Because that's what is missing from this film - genuine emotional depth. I'm not talking Broken levels of social realism here, just a bit more meat on the bones. Hell, some would be good, Even a bit of gristle.

The main four are introduced so quickly at the start, turn up late and you'll have no idea who they are - not that it'll alter your perception of the film, because so little back story is revealed as to render the first 10 minutes pointless. Especially as we get more background during the one time Ruffalo gets to quiz the gang.

(Ever seen the phrase 'quiz' in a headline? It's always used in relation to the police. As in 'Police quiz bank raid gang'. It's a terrible word to use, and always leaves me with the impression of four suspects sitting around a table writing their answers down while one copper throws out questions about the charts in 1990.)

Sorry, I digress. But that's the thing with Now You See Me - there's so little mental stimulation, your mind is prone to wander...

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, the repetition. It feels like the main bulk of the film was written - where expanding on the magic gang's characters works well - and then someone else decided we needed a whizz-bang beginning, so they just told the same story a different way.

It could be deliberate, of course. The writers could have been trying to draw parallels with looking at magic tricks in many different ways. But it's not that clever a film. Looks pretty though.

And the casting is odd. Ruffalo - an actor I have come to like - is simply channelling all the cops he's played before, Harrelson looks like he's having fun without putting any effort in, Fisher seems to be permanently puzzled, Eisenberg's doing his best but doesn't have much to work with, and Caine and Freeman are sleepwalking through the whole thing - probably mentally spending their fee while delivering the lines.

The two who come out of this film with real credit are Franco - who shines as the youngest member of the gang - and Laurent, despite everything she's got to contend with.

It's not her fault at all, but her character serves no real purpose other than to provide a probable love interest for Ruffalo (probably after someone decided it wouldn't work between Eisenberg and Fisher) which the film really doesn't need. Yes, she also adds to the puff of smoke and many mirrors, but so does everyone (at some point you'll have suspected everyone of doing what they shouldn't). She brings finesse  and charm to the role, and the camera clearly loves her, but if her character had hit the cutting room floor you wouldn't have missed much.

Which is frankly a waste.

So, when the smoke has cleared and the mirrors have been put away, what's left? Not a lot.

Yes, it's slick, extremely fast-paced (to the point Leterrier forgets to allow room for any tension to build), slick, polished, slick and full of magic tricks. Yes, there is a final twist that was a genuine (if slightly implausible) surprise. Yes, there's a cute bunny in it. There are even a few laughs.

Sadly, though, just like so many cinema snacks, it's not very filling and leaves no lasting impression...