When I saw the first trailer, I resisted the film because it was clearly working with cinematic trickery and not on-camera illusions. What makes the series so fun is that it knows how to use both to achieve a world of magic we want to believe can exist. The actors sell the technique and when a trick seems too unbelievable, the script will work in how the illusion was practically staged. Right from Jesse Eisenberg’s opening “pick a card” trick, there’s a moment of in-camera movie magic that supports his illusion. Just as important to the series, the script by Ed Solomon (Men in Black, Bill & Ted) shows that a magician is similar to a con artist. This is where the cast get to shine, they all appear to be having a lot of fun working the con and using their bodies like master illusionists who’ve been doing this for years.
I love that David Copperfield is involved in these films as a magic consultant, and the scene I’m most curious to know more about is in the sequel when the group must smuggle a computer chip hiding on a playing card. The magicians move the card and pass it between each other in a way that could never be achieved by the greatest magicians working without effects, but the execution tickles me. I’d love to see how much was on the page, the meetings that built the sequence out with more gags, and director Jon M. Chu figuring out how to film it like a complicated musical sequence.
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