13 Years Later, Prime Video’s Twisty Mystery Thriller Hits Harder Than Ever

Published Oct 17, 2026, 11:07 PM EDT

Collier Jennings is an entertainment journalist with extensive experience. Collier, or "CJ" to his friends and family, is a dedicated fan of genre films - particularly science fiction, fantasy, and comic book adaptations, not to mention all forms of animation. This stems from a close bond with his father, who introduced him to these genres via copies of X-Men comics and reruns of the original Ultraman series. With his near-encyclopedic knowledge and bottomless love of genre, he's tackled a wide variety of articles.

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A good mystery has three core components. There's the hook: a murder that takes place on a speeding train, or a group of strangers trapped in a house by someone willing to pick them off one by one. Then there are the twists: the obvious suspect ends up dead, or someone previously labeled innocent comes under suspicion. And then there's the reveal, which pulls all the pieces together. Some great mystery movies have come out in the last few years, particularly Rian Johnson's Knives Out trilogy, but one takes things to the next level.

That movie is Now You See Me, now streaming on Prime Video. Now You See Me follows a quartet of magicians: illusionist J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), hypnotist Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson), escape artist Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher), and impressionist Jack Wilder (Dave Franco). Known as the "Four Horsemen," they pull off a string of daring robberies using their skills, putting them in the crosshairs of FBI agent Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo​​​​​​). An intense game of cat and mouse follows, along with a mystery that keeps viewers hooked until the credits roll.

'Now You See Me' Keeps Its Audience Guessing Until The Very End

Image via Lionsgate

Half the fun of watching Now You See Me is in how the Four Horsemen use their skills to pull off their heists. McKinney's ability to hypnotize people comes in handy, since his targets have no memory of what they've done. Jack is skilled at voice mimicry and lock picking, two skills any thief would love. In one of the most iconic moments, Atlas tricks Rhodes into getting up close during a heated interrogation and trapping him in his own handcuffs. What makes it even more impressive is that most of the tricks were performed with practical effects, meaning viewers could replicate them in real life.

The other element that makes Now You See Me work is how director Louis Leterrier blends the mystery of stage magic with the thrill of a heist movie. To stay one step ahead of the Horsemen, Rhodes leans on Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman), who makes a livingbreaking down the secrets behind magicians' tricks. That adds a new layer of danger to the Horsemen's heist: if someone who knows how they operate is working with the authorities, how do they stay one step ahead? It culminates in a finale with multiple jaw-dropping reveals, and viewers will rewatch to see what they missed the first time.

Collider Exclusive · Villain Personality Quiz Which Criminal Mastermind Would Be Your Nemesis? Lecter · Joker · Moriarty · Chigurh

Four of the finest criminal minds ever put on screen. One of them would look at you and see something worth their time. Eight questions decide which one comes for you, why they picked you, and what they would want when they arrived.

🍷Lecter

🃏Joker

♟️Moriarty

🪙Chigurh

MEET YOUR NEMESIS →

01

What would a criminal mastermind notice about you first? Great villains choose their opponents carefully. Something about you got their attention.

AMy manners, and everything I am careful not to say. BThat I still believe people are basically decent. CThat I am clever, and quietly enjoy proving it. DThat I handle things myself, and always have.

NEXT QUESTION →

02

How do they make first contact? The introduction tells you everything about what is coming next.

AA polite letter. Beautiful handwriting. Quietly wrong. BSomething on fire, with a message left beside it. CA puzzle, left where only I would look. DNo contact. Just the aftermath, and a coin.

NEXT QUESTION →

03

What do you actually believe about right and wrong? Every nemesis is really an argument about the thing you believe most.

AThere are lines. Mine are private and absolute. BRules are the only thing keeping us from being animals. CMorality is a system, and systems can be solved. DThings happen. Most of it was never up to me.

NEXT QUESTION →

04

What finally gets under your skin? Everybody has a pressure point. Finding yours is the whole plan.

ABeing seen clearly by somebody I cannot read. BWatching good people do something ugly. CLosing to someone who was simply better prepared. DHaving no move left that changes anything.

NEXT QUESTION →

05

They have made their move. How do you fight back? This is the part of the film where the audience finds out who you are.

ACarefully, and never where they expect to be touched. BLoudly. I would rather lose than play their game. CWith a better plan. I can out-think this. DDirectly, once, with whatever is closest to hand.

NEXT QUESTION →

06

What would they use against you? A good villain never brings a weapon you have not already handed them.

AMy privacy. I have kept far too much to myself. BMy conscience. I will not cross the line they want. CMy ego. I cannot resist a worthy opponent. DMy certainty that I can handle it alone.

NEXT QUESTION →

07

What do they actually want from you? The money is never the point. Something else always is.

ATo understand me better than anyone ever has. BTo prove I am no better than they are. CTo finally be beaten by someone worth the trouble. DNothing at all. I stepped into the wrong path.

NEXT QUESTION →

08

How does it end between the two of you? Eight questions in, this is the one that decides who comes for you.

AA conversation I will be replaying for years. BA choice forced on me that has no clean answer. COne final move, and the better mind wins. DA coin in the air, and nothing I can say.

REVEAL MY NEMESIS →

The Case File Is Complete Your Nemesis Is…

Four criminal masterminds. One of them was always going to be yours. Here is who comes for you, why they picked you out of everyone available, and what they want from the encounter.

Hannibal Lecter

Your nemesis does not want to beat you. He wants to know you completely, and he is patient enough to wait for it. The frightening part is how good the conversation is.

• Lecter is the most dangerous kind of opponent: the one who finds you interesting. He never raises his voice, because he has never needed to.
• You keep a great deal to yourself and you are careful about what you show. That reserve is exactly the door he would knock on.
• The films understood something other thrillers missed. The horror is not the violence. It is being perfectly understood by the wrong person.
• He would be unfailingly polite about all of it. That is the worst part.

The Joker

Your nemesis is not after money, territory or revenge. He is after a demonstration, and you are the person he has chosen to prove his point on.

• The Joker only picks opponents who believe in something. Your decency is not a defence against him. It is the entire reason he showed up.
• He has no plan you can predict and nothing you can take away, which removes every tool you would normally reach for.
• His whole argument is that you are one bad day away from being him, and you would spend the rest of your life proving him wrong.
• He would call it a magic trick. You would call it the worst night of your life.

Moriarty

Your nemesis respects you, which sounds flattering until you work out what it means. He chose you because nobody else was worth his time.

• Moriarty is the original criminal mastermind, the template every later one borrows from: a mind the equal of the hero's, pointed the wrong way.
• You enjoy being the cleverest person in the room. He is counting on exactly that, and he has already built the room.
• This is the rare nemesis who would be genuinely disappointed if you lost badly. He needs the game to be worth playing.
• It ends the way these things always end. Two people, one problem, and only one way down.

Anton Chigurh

Your nemesis has no personal interest in you whatsoever, and that is precisely what makes him unsurvivable. You are not a rival. You are a stop on the way.

• Chigurh does not negotiate, gloat or explain. He arrives, he asks one question, and the answer was decided long before you opened your mouth.
• You trust yourself to handle things. He is the one problem in the world that has no interest in how capable you are.
• No Country for Old Men rewrote the screen villain by removing the thing audiences quietly rely on: the sense that talking might work.
• Call it. He will wait.

↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ

'Now You See Me' Launched an Entire Franchise of Movies

When Now You See Me premiered in 2013, critics panned it, but it became a massive box-office success. As a result, Lionsgate greenlit a sequel that July, and Now You See Me 2 debuted in 2013. While the movie made some changes, including a new cast member, Daniel Radcliffe, and a new director, John M. Chu, the thrill of watching the Horsemen pull off impossible feats still hooked fans. Last year, the third movie, Now You See Me: Now You Don't, was released, in which the Horsemen train a new generation of magicians to help them with their most daring heist. Lionsgate executive Adam Fogelson was apparently so impressed with the final result that he greenlit a fourth installment and convinced director Rueben Fleischer to return.

"We were so happy with the director’s cut, we’re already developing the next chapter...We can’t wait for audiences to discover what he’s done with the third film and thrilled he’ll be making even more magic with us.""

Like any good magic trick, Now You See Me draws in its audience with a seemingly simple story, then dazzles them with visuals and plot twists that feel like they're impossible to pull off. The trick is to watch closely, and now that the movie's on Prime Video, magic and heist fans can watch it to their heart's content.