Four magicians—Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher), Jack Wilder (Dave Franco) and Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson)—are brought together by a mysterious benefactor and, one year later, perform in Las Vegas as "The Four Horsemen" sponsored by Arthur Tressler (Michael Caine), an insurance magnate. For the finale of their performances, the Four Horsemen invite a member of the audience to help them in their next trick: robbing a bank. The man is apparently teleported to his bank in Paris, where he activates an airduct which vacuums up the money and showers it onto the crowd in Las Vegas.
FBI agent Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) is called to investigate the theft and is partnered with Interpol Agent Alma Vargas (Mélanie Laurent). They interrogate the Four Horsemen, but release them when no explanation for the theft can be found other than magic. Rhodes then meets Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman), an ex-magician who makes money by revealing the secrets behind other magicians' tricks. Bradley was in the audience and deduced that the Four Horsemen stole the money weeks before, and manipulated the audience into believing it happened in real time.
Rhodes, Vargas and Bradley attend the Four Horsemen's next performance in New Orleans. The group's finale involves their emptying Tressler's bank account and distributing it to the audience, which comprises people whose insurance claims had been denied or reduced by Tressler's company. Rhodes attempts to arrest the Four Horsemen, but they escape with help from audience members who were hypnotized to tackle whoever next yelled "Freeze". An infuriated Tressler hires Bradley to expose and humiliate the Four Horsemen in their next performance. Later, while researching the Four Horsemen's background, Vargas learns about rumors of a secret society of magicians called "The Eye" and suggests to a skeptical Rhodes the case might be connected to a magician whom Bradley once exposed, and was so humiliated that he attempted a dangerous underwater stunt and drowned.
Before the Four Horsemen's last performance in New York City, Rhodes and Vargas locate the group's hideout and confront Wilder there. Wilder attempts to escape in a stolen car, but it flips and explodes. Rhodes and Vargas learn that the Four Horsemen are targeting a particular safe, which is under the surveillance of another FBI team which has taken over the case. They intercept the safe en route to 5 Pointz, but find it empty. The ability of the Four Horseman to continually outwit the FBI leads Rhodes to suspect that there must be a fifth member of the team, potentially Vargas or Bradley.
At the final performance, Rhodes and Vargas once again attempt to apprehend the Four Horsemen, but Atlas, Reeves, and McKinney jump from the rooftop, seemingly transforming into piles of money that rain from the sky into the cheering crowd, but it turns out the money is fake. Bradley returns to his car, discovering it to be filled with the real money from the stolen safe. The FBI arrest Bradley and take him to prison, where Rhodes visits him. Bradley claims he was framed and explains how the group performed the safe heist through use of mirrors. He hopes this will clear him of charges, only to realize Rhodes is the fifth Horseman and mastermind of the entire plot, though Bradley is unable to determine why. Rhodes leaves Bradley in jail and reunites with the Four Horsemen, including Wilder, who faked his death. They are surprised to discover Rhodes is the benefactor who assembled them the previous year, and he initiates them into The Eye.
Rhodes later meets Vargas in France and reveals that he is the son of Lionel Shrike, the magician who drowned years ago. He designed the Horsemen plot to obtain revenge on those involved: Bradley, for humiliating his father; the bank in Paris and Tressler's company, which refused to pay insurance on his father's death; and the company that produced the safe used in the trick. Due to the inferior quality of metal used to construct the safe, it warped, resulting in Rhodes' father's inability to escape it. Rhodes was living in poverty until The Eye recruited him. He admits that he has fallen in love with Vargas. Vargas then decides not to turn him in.
sumber : wikipedia
sumber : wikipedia
