Magicians in Now You See Me: Wizards or Performers?

Merritt McKinney is undeniably a wizard with hypnotic powers that defy logic.

### The Wizardry of Now You See Me: Unraveling the Magic Behind the Tricks
* 🎩 The question of whether the magicians in "Now You See Me" are wizards has intrigued audiences since the film's release, with director John Chu clarifying that they are simply **skilled stage performers**.
* 🃏 The franchise has grossed over **$700 million at the box office**, showcasing its popularity despite the exaggerated magic tricks presented in the films.
* ✨ The Four Horsemen, the protagonists of the first film, each display unique talents, such as **J. Daniel Atlas's card manipulation** and **Merritt McKinney's hypnotic abilities**, which **blur the line between illusion and reality**.
* 🔮 Merritt's capacity to **read micro-expressions and influence others** places him on the "**wizard watch list**," as his feats suggest a **deeper understanding of human psychology**.
* 💥 The film's heists often rely on **elaborate setups and psychological manipulation**, raising questions about the plausibility of their magical feats, such as the **seemingly impossible teleportation trick** during their Las Vegas performance.
* 🧙 In "Now You See Me 2," new character Lula May and her impressive **Rube Goldberg machine** further contribute to the notion of wizardry, especially with her **seemingly impossible illusions**.
* 📽 While some tricks are rooted in real magic techniques, the use of **CGI and clever editing** often enhances the illusion, leading to debates about what constitutes **real magic** in the film's universe.
* 🤔 Ultimately, the conclusion drawn is that while the characters may not possess supernatural powers, their **extraordinary skills** and the film's **clever storytelling** create a **magical experience** that leaves viewers **questioning the boundaries of reality**.

Were the magicians in Now You See Me wizards, or what? It's a question that's haunted moviegoers for nearly a decade. John Chu, the director of Now You See Me 2, would have you believe our heroic trickster thieves are simply talented stage performers.

Even if it is impossible for us to shoot on camera, we wanted the logistics and understanding of the trick to be possible. We're not saying hocus pocus magic exists, that was never our intention, but he did prove one type of magic exists: movie magic.

The Now You See Me franchise came out of nowhere to hit over 700 million dollars at the box office. Not really relevant to what I'm going to be talking about, but that segue was really good. Obviously, the magic tricks in these movies are exaggerated, and I accept most 

stupid movie explanations for things. All I'm asking is, within the bounds of this movie and its world, are they wizards? Let's get into the first film, Now You See Me, and the Four Horsemen are protagonists. First up is J. Daniel Atlas, a sexy David

Blaine style street magician who's sexy and hot. His first trick is explained clearly in the film. He flips through a deck with multiple seven of diamonds to draw the eye to them, then shows the same card is drawn in lights on the side of a skyscraper.

He later reveals this was an electrician he bribed who somehow made individual room lights turn on at angles that could form diamonds. Now, that was an example of what I'm not going to be doing in this video. It's a simple trick that's explained clearly within the

movie and it included a cheap nitpick about something that was clearly just done to make the film more impressive and stylish, both of these things I'll be mostly skipping. I'm not Cinema Sins, I'm here to find the truth. We're next introduced to Merritt McKinney, 

a hypnotist who can instantly drop almost anyone into a deep sleep using his parlor tricks to wipe memories and read minds. He is number one on my wizard watch list. In his first scene, he reads a man's facial cues to determine that he's 

cheating on his wife and who he is cheating with. This is surprisingly grounded in reality with the magic consultant for the franchise, Keith Barry, having plenty of clips online of brain hacking people by detecting the word they're thinking of just from micro

movements in their face. I want you to think of a word that if I guessed it, you'd be convinced I was psychic. You've got a word in mind? I can't get it. I actually can't get it. Oh, I heard it right there. You said it 

louder. Oasis. Oasis. I don't believe it. Oh my god, that's brilliant. You you bro, you had my brain. The chills. Breathe out. Yes, Michelle. It is scary. The next horseman is Jack Wilder, Jesus Christ. Card throwing savant and sleight of hand 

expert with an interest in magic crime. Dave Franco is charismatic and Jesse Eisenberg and him should have swapped roles, but that's not relevant and I'm not gonna say it in this video. Delete it. The final horseman is Henley Reeves, former assistant to Jay Daniels. 

Atlas and current shock magician, we're introduced to her with a simple underwater lock-picking trick with the added caveat of a school of piranhas dangling above her. She fails to pick the lock in time and is eaten alive by piranhas, but then...

The Prestige, she's actually out in the crowd, certainly via some trap door or secret exit of some kind. Frame by frame, this is very suspect. We see her writhing in pain and the blood pooling, so were the piranhas fake or did she...

have a double, a twin sister who is willing to die to impress these 50 horny losers? At this point, Henley is under suspicion. These four magicians are gathered together to impress a secret order called the 'I', and the movie jumps ahead to the result...

of a year of planning together, the bank heist magic show. We joined the horsemen just in time for the trick, the finale of their Las Vegas performance. We catch this mid-air high five from Jack and Merritt, and though this feat may look impossible to pull off at first...

glance boosting the audio, you can hear their secret. The most [ __ ] part of the heist trick is when they reveal the teleporter. What is this magic blanket Henley goes through and how did the teleporter appear? It's wizard [ __ ] for sure. They pull in...

someone from the crowd, get him to sign a card to leave in the vault, teleport him to the bank of his choice, suck all the money into the tube and blast it onto the audience. It's actually not that complicated and based on a real David Copperfield trick.

called portal, though that trick did require the teleported man to be a plant. In this case, it's someone from the bank they stalked and planted suggestions that he should go to Vegas. Sus alert. The biggest witchcraft red flag in the plan for me is during the setup when

they have to hijack a truck on its way to the bank, and Merritt she blasts a truck guard to knock him out. With us given the explanation that the truck driver is just dumb, and despite what the banks would have you believe, the men who drive these trucks are not

exactly mental giants. A look for Merritt is all it takes. There is obviously no precedent for this in the wildest interpretations of hypnosis. We can tell it's impossible because we also look at his face, and we don't fall asleep, although maybe that's just

because the film is an edge-of-your-seat thrill ride for all ages. The man is a wizard and should be treated as such for the rest of these films. Next, we meet Dylan, the FBI investigator following the horsemen and interrogating them. We see Henley doing this cool chair spin

which just give me a second actually, she's a witch. We also learned Merritt can hypnotize people over the phone and get a taste of his trademark transphobic sense of humor. I'm really sorry about this whole [ __ ] Tuesday

thing. I was out of line. [ __ ] Tuesday, no shame. Agent Fuller, no shame, just having fun. I'm not. Before the next magic show, we're introduced to two characters played by the default old guys of Hollywood. Daddy is Bradley, magic debunker, and

Arthur Tressler, the money behind the Horsemen, and the most earnest slow clapper in the last 20 years of cinema. Bravo, Mr. Bradley! At the New Orleans performance, we get a taste of Jack's card-throwing ability. It may look impossible, what's so cool

about this is that Dave Franco is actually just okay at throwing cards in real life. People can definitely do this stuff though, although it's usually after like 15 tries. The big finale of this one is giving everyone in the audience Tressler's money because his insurance

company denied them their insurance claims after Hurricane Katrina. They reveal the changing bank balances by shining lights on the paper, which I guess is possible by using different kinds of invisible ink that reveal or vanish when exposed to heat. It's not clear how they got the whole

crowd's bank account information though, but I consider it within the scope of this movie's year of planning. Super smart, whatever. When Dylan yells "Freeze!" as the Horsemen are getting away, it triggers the audience members Merritt hypnotized earlier in the show to jump

to action. Though stage hypnotism isn't known to push you too far outside your moral compass, like how most of those people wouldn't tackle a cop. It doesn't matter because we just watched Merritt knock someone out with a chi blast. He can do whatever. We're deep in the

action now, with the Horsemen on the run from the FBI, and we arrive at the scene that cemented this movie as a worm in my brain for the next seven years: the magic fight scene. Dylan corners Jack and the Horsemen hideout.

and Jack calls off the other FBI members by doing a perfect impression of Dylan, "You little [ __ ] you little [ __ ] what game you're playing? What game you're playing? We're all good at six, move to seven, copy."

That goes stupid for sure, but not impossible. Then he starts throwing fireballs. I don't know this guy can do it. He probably just threw flash paper, maybe even the fake euros we saw earlier as part of the heist. Next, Jack sleight of hands the fire

poker out of Dylan's grip and then banishes it. It kind of happens off-screen so he could have thrown it somewhere, but come on. Then Dylan kicks him into the curtain and he disappears. I am not gonna get into it.

every time these [ __ ] disappear though because they do it a lot, they're just good at crawling around on the floor, I guess. That scene was aggravatingly dumb when I first saw it, but re-watching it, it's fun, it's ridiculous, but it feels at least

original. During his escape, they fake Jack's death in a way that really doesn't involve much magic, just a stupid amount of planning, like driving a city bus with a decoy car hitched to the front with a cadaver inside. A cadaver they stole

from the morgue. They choose not to get into the morality of this. Hopefully, he was a fan for the Horseman's grand finale. They stun a CGI crowd with CGI projections. What does arc me about these movies is they're asking me to wonder

how these tricks were done when the answer is always CGI projecting a hollow effect on the side of the building is possible but it can only look real if the viewer looks at it from a specific point of view like the stereoscopic 3D on

3DS and it sure doesn't work on walls covered in graffiti but again to me fake tech isn't the same as in-world magic they seem to teleport before running off the building and turning into money but I assume that those horsemen were just holograms the

whole time and if that's not feasible to you remember the Tupac hologram was in 2012 a year before this movie came out so feel old yet in the end they pin the heist stuff on Thaddeus and Dylan turns

out to have been a magician working with the Eye the entire movie it's one of the craziest twists of all time every chase scene we watched was him playing pretend and he was performing to no one but we're not talking about that here so the verdict so far one film in

J Daniel Atlas regular human Jack probably a regular human Henley humanoid blanket bender merit so clearly a wizard had made me have to re-evaluate if this video was even worth doing Now You See Me 2 introduces us to the new Horseman Lula May

replacing Henley she breaks into J Daniel Atlas's secret hideout and sets up a Rube Goldberg machine that culminates in her head getting chopped off My mind once again went to identical twin willing to die to impress a horny

loser, but to the movie's credit, they did this effect mostly practically. It required a fake couch that Lula's body could slide down and through with her neck sticking out of a slit in the side. Did she really do a major mod to J. Daniel Atlas's couch while he was

discussing future product placement with Shake Shack? I'm getting big wizard vibes from this girl already. Now this zoom through the table is ridiculous, that's impossible. The gang's first big con in the sequel is exposing the evil phone company Octa for stealing their

users' data. Jack, who's still in hiding, poses as a security guard and confiscates a banana. Cool trick, right? Well, visual effects studio Frame Store published an article about their work on this movie and listed the banana disappearing as one of their many computerized effects. It's way too big for his sleeve anyway.

Jack's first trick of the movie is inexplicable. J. Daniel Atlas quickly switches between a number of characters for the con. Most are simple practical costume changes. He also has some nifty shoe changers, but was he really gonna get found out because his shoes were the wrong color?

Sorry for nitpicking. All this is explained fine by some smart trick items, except for his final costume change from suit to janitor suit. We watch his shoes change color, there's no hiding what he does. It happens in one frame before our very eyes. Gotcha, J. Daniel Atlas, or should I say

shoe wizard? Merrick's role in the con is to mystify the CEO of Octa with the power of white rap. I feel from your face you're freaked by the flow of blood, which is fully fixable in the snap again. Wizard doing wizard [ __ ] There are

hypnotists who can do this stuff but not completely against the target's will. Finally, the Horsemen reveal themselves by jumping out of the massive screens on stage. And I don't know what the hell happened there, but things go south. A new figure exposes Jack as alive

and Dylan as a magician, and the Horsemen have to make a run for it. They head to their backup escape tube, but instead of landing in an escape truck like they planned, they land in Macau, China. The explanation for how this happened is actually really interesting. Basically, China has a

lot of people in it, and the studio wanted to make a lot of money in China by having the movie be set in China. Cool, huh? We meet Merrick's evil twin brother Chase, a fellow hypnotist whose tactics are a bit more prop-based, Carrot Top-esque in both strategy and

hair. Turns out the Horsemen have been brought here by Daniel Radcliffe's Walter Mabry, who I will be making zero wizard jokes about. He reveals the tube thing was actually a result of binaural blah blah science crap. He knocked them out and flew them to

China and dropped them in a different tube. Mabry threatens to kill them if they can't steal a microchip for him from a secure vault. It's the size of a playing card, so this leads to a sequence of the Horsemen throwing around a card with the chip

attached to it while they're being frisked. Some of the throws are surprisingly authentic and even feasible according to some real magicians, except so that this is all horseshoe, this throw is horseshit. Yeah, these two also claim the idea of manipulating a

card so accurately through your sleeve and around your clothes is impossible. Looks like this is more clothes-based magic from J. Daniel Atlas. The scene culminates in Merrick performing a bounce throw through the metal detector. Is the bounce throw a real technique? Uh, yeah, I guess.

Thaddeus and Dylan head to China, working together to find the horsemen. However, while investigating an old magic shop, Thaddeus slips into a trick sarcophagus and gets away. What the [ __ ]?! We know Dylan is a master

magician at this point. He has to know how these work, and it's not that the person actually disappears. Or if that is how it works, why don't you just hop in the sarcophagus and you'll get teleported to the same place he got teleported to? How is this how

Thaddeus gets away in the movie [ __ ]. Sorry, not the point. The big finale of the movie in London is very goofy but explained mostly neatly. The horsemen are performing street magic shows all over town to get the attention of Mabry, who

turned out to be Arthur Tressler's son by the way. Jack performs a perfectly reasonable three-card monte routine with doubles and trap doors, but when the jig is up he simply disappears into a hail of playing cards. No trap doors, no room to the side for

him to run off frame. The story claims they were instructed to make sure he was completely covered in cards for a few frames to sell the disappearance as reasonable, but I was not sold. Meanwhile, Jay Daniel Atlas uses strobe lights and rain machines to give the illusion of

controlling rainwater something he claims to be more powerful than the Christian God for doing, how could God do that? No, I don't think so. When the cops come for him, he falls backwards and disappears into his clothes. Yet another piece of clothing witchcraft.

From Mr. J. Daniel Atlas, Lula does some dove stuff. I guess she could have bought a lot of doves, and then she runs away at the end, as you or I would have done. The reason the jig gets up in the first place and why they all have to run off

is Merrick is stopped by his brother Chase, who reads Merrick and discovers the location of their final performance. Then Merrick calls Dylan. Dylan calls everyone, and they all stop doing their routines and run. But later, when the Horseman's full plan

is revealed, we find out Jack mystified Chase with the power of white rap immediately after that interaction. While he was on the other side of town doing his performance, before he could have possibly gotten the call about the jig being up, he was in two places at once. So boom,

wizard, gotcha. Also, the Horsemen are all yelling at each other with no one around, asking what went wrong when they meet up. Even though later on, when the big plan is revealed, they say this was all exactly what they wanted. Okay [ __ ] it. We're cinema-sensing this [ __ ].

Dylan is working with an Interpol agent for the whole first film because the Horseman's crimes are international. Except Interpol does not have field agents, and that woman wouldn't exist. The ending of the first movie flies through keys at the bottom of the panda art where lovers lock a padlock with

their name on it and throw the key into the water to symbolize their love, but all these keys are American-style house keys and not the type that would be on a padlock in France. The horseman gets Tresler's password for the New Orleans show by tricking him

into revealing the answers to his security questions. Does that make it not fraud? How do those transactions stand? Why does J. Daniel Atlas say "Guess you lost some weight" when he catches Henley at the New Orleans show? Had they not rehearsed it? Why does

J. Daniel Atlas's suit make clown shoe noises when the guard in the vault pats him down? J. Daniel Atlas's tray changes between shots here from a regular tray to the one that can maybe transform into a briefcase, and during the London finale of "Now You See Me 2", I

hate to say it, but that crowd isn't screaming in a British accent. [Applause] Sorry, I had to get that out of my system. Now where do these [ __ ] stand when all is said and done? J. Daniel Atlas, clothing wizard. Jack Wilder,

card slash banana wizard. Merritt McKinney, [ __ ] off. Lula May, crafty human. Thaddeus Bradley, maybe the greatest wizard of them all. So were the magicians in "Now You See Me" wizards? Yep.

were the magicians in Now You See Me wizards or what?

Leo Vader

Introduction and initial analysis of the magicians' abilities in Now You See Me.

The video questions whether the magicians in Now You See Me are wizards or simply skilled performers.

The director claims the tricks are based on possible logistics and understanding, not actual magic.

The video acknowledges the exaggerated nature of the magic tricks in the movies.

The video begins analyzing the first film, focusing on the Four Horsemen.

J. Daniel Atlas's first trick is explained as a combination of misdirection and bribed electricians.

Analysis of Merritt McKinney's abilities and the plausibility of his hypnotic skills.

Merritt McKinney's ability to hypnotize and read minds is discussed, referencing real-life examples.

The video cites Keith Barry, the franchise's magic consultant, as evidence for the plausibility of some of Merritt's skills.

A demonstration of mind reading is shown, highlighting the subtle cues used.

Jack Wilder's card-throwing skills and sleight of hand are analyzed.

Henley Reeves's underwater lock-picking trick and subsequent disappearance raise questions.

Examination of the bank heist magic show in the first movie and its plausibility.

The video analyzes the bank heist, focusing on the teleportation trick and its basis in a real-life David Copperfield trick.

Merritt's ability to knock out a truck guard with a look is deemed impossible, suggesting magical abilities.

The video concludes that Merritt's actions point towards him possessing magical powers.

Henley's chair spin and Merritt's phone hypnosis further support the idea of their magical abilities.

Analysis of the magic tricks and events in the second film, Now You See Me 2.

Introduction of new characters and their roles in the sequel.

Lula's death scene and its practical effects are discussed.

The gang's con to expose Octa and the use of CGI effects are analyzed.

J. Daniel Atlas's costume changes are examined, highlighting inconsistencies.

Merrick's use of white rap to mystify the CEO is discussed.

The ending of Now You See Me 2 and its implications regarding the magicians' abilities.

The Horsemen's unexpected arrival in Macau and the explanation for it are discussed.

Introduction of Merrick's twin brother, Chase, and his role in the plot.

Walter Mabry's explanation for the tube transportation and the ensuing events are analyzed.

The card-throwing scene and its plausibility are discussed, highlighting inconsistencies.

Thaddeus's escape using a trick sarcophagus and its implications are discussed.

Conclusion and final verdict on the magicians' abilities.

The video concludes that the magicians in Now You See Me exhibit magical abilities.