The Now You See Me Paradox 

The closer you look, the less you see.

If you're anywhere near my age, you probably remember when the first Now You See Me came out. It was a mainstay in my household, and a staple of after-school sleepovers for years after its release. To a 12-year-old with her very own store-bought magic starter kit—complete with stacking cups and a trick die—the Four Horsemen were the peak of cool. With nothing more than a deck of cards and some sleight of hand, they could defy reality, and show up the powerful, the rich, and the skeptical.

They also had hordes of adoring fans who worshipped them, which didn't sound too bad to me either.

But as I got older, something changed. When the sequel came out three years later, the illusion didn't have the same lustre. After the surprise smash hit, Now You See Me 2 felt like an empty copy of the original. I couldn't figure out why. After all, it was all the same as the first go 'round.

Magic. Espionage. Spectacle. Dave Franco.

But the magic had gone missing for me. I was stumped, and bitterly disappointed. In time, I came to accept that maybe I had projected greatness onto these movies. Now that I was a grown-up with grown-up tastes, I would have to move on from the magical franchises of my youth. Only high quality films like The Prestige and Labyrinth would satisfy my high standards.

Thankfully, that was not the case for my boyfriend.

We spent our most recent date night watching the (finally) correctly named sequel, Now You See Me, Now You Don't. Me, out of a desire to relive some of my childhood wonder, and him because he genuinely believed it would be a good movie. He's a man of simple tastes, what can I say?

We went into that theatre, with polar opposite expectations, and we came out with polar opposite takes. To my surprise, I walked back out to the parking lot with a big grin on my face. I wasn't smiling because of the movie though. I was smiling because after more than a decade, I had finally figured out the trick to the franchise's inexplicable success. The answer had been staring me in the face since the very beginning.

"The more you think you see, the easier it'll be to fool you. Because what is seeing? You're looking, but what you're really doing is filtering, interpreting, searching for meaning. My job? To take that most precious of gifts you give me—your attention—and use it against you."

You can't say they weren't honest from the get-go.

These are the first words you ever hear in Now You See Me. Not only is it J. Daniel Atlas' ethos, it's the guiding principle at the very heart of this immensely popular magical heist franchise. I could tell you the trick now, but where would the fun be in that?

So come in close. Closer. Because this trick—like the franchise itself—has three acts. Now, I know I'm mixing my magical movie metaphors, but this was just too fun to pass up.

The Pledge

Like I said, I went in with low expectations. All I wanted was to have a fun time, and to see some magical spectacle. That's what these movies promised me, and I expect them to deliver. I want The Horsemen to show off their stuff, meet a super rich bad guy to take down, and then just when you think they've lost, show that they were really a step ahead the whole time.

Unlike me though, my partner's brain has not been destroyed by cynicism. He had hope.

The Turn

This is where things start to get interesting. In this movie there aren't just four Horsemen, but an additional crew of three young up-and-coming supermagicians. The Eye (aka the omniscient magical Illuminati) has sent Danny Atlas to find these newbies, so that they can help him bring down a corrupt diamond magnate. Why? Well, all will be revealed later.... I think.

Rosamund Pike is doing an inexplicably uneven South African accent for some reason, but I didn't care. It just gave me something else to laugh at. I appeared to be the only one who was amused, though. While I let my eyes dull and the bright colours and flashy tricks wash over me, my boyfriend sat beside me with a stubbornly furrowed brow.

Why were they in Belgium? Did they just teleport, or was that a trick? How did five people pull together all of these logistics? It just didn't make any sense! I sat there groaning at the soap opera worthy dialogue and laughing at all the wrong moments, and every time I turned my head, it became clear that he was not in on the joke.

The Prestige

In any other movie, this is when pieces would start to fall into place. The answers to the basic 5 W's (who, what, when, where, why and the all important how) would start to come to the surface. But this isn't an ordinary movie. This is Now You See Me, godammit!

The laws of screenwriting don't apply here, and neither do the laws of physics. If you try to make sense out of it—to search for patterns where there is only madness—you will lose every time.

Each question just leads to more questions, and when the story gets too convolluted to follow, they throw a setpiece at you to distract you. In the first movie it was the daring underwater cage escape. In the second, the vault heist/game of hot potato with playing cards. The third entry in the series has upped the ante. First, there's the diamond heist itself, then the funhouse spectacle complete with a mirror room and forced perspective trickery. Then a prison break with a Mission: Impossible mask. Then they steal a racecar. Even though they are wanted in seemingly every continent, they never once struggle to get through customs.

Who cares if it makes sense? This shit is awesome.

By the end of the film, nothing adds up, but I also don't remember what my questions were in the first place. I've had my mind wiped like an extra in Men In Black, and all my qualms have been replaced with memories of world travel destinations, opulent galas, and impossible feats. If you don't think too hard about it, the movie can fool you into thinking that it all makes sense.

And that's the real trick.

With my expectations on the floor, I'd once again been fleeced. The movie had taken my attention and used it against me, just like it promised it would all the way back in 2013. With my critical thinking taking a backseat, the imperfections of the narrative no longer bothered me, and I accepted the straw-man plotline without question.

Not so for my unfortunate companion. He'd been looking far too closely to enjoy himself. He couldn't see the big picture anymore, just the fractured shards that were holding it together, like puzzle pieces that don't quite match, but have been pounded into place anyway.

Our predicament finally helped me put into words what had so puzzled me about these movies. If you go in expecting a competent film, you will be disappointed. If you go in expecting utter nonsense, you will have a blast. Now You See Me is the perfect blend of silliness, sincerity, and spectacle. In the right frame of mind, it's impossible not to be entertained.

If you're looking for logic, look elsewhere, because, as our magical friends like to say:

The closer you look, the less you see.