What do we see? I think we see quite a bit of nothing and if there are some "secrets" planted they're safely ignored. Watch and forget would be my advice.

This is great for anyone wanting some empty entertainment without actual meaningful content. There's no character to feel or rote for as its little more than shadows dancing on a screen. The actors do a pretty good job for the most part. At least the males Jesse Eisenberg as Daniel Atlas, Mark Ruffalo as Dylan Rhodes, Woody Harrelson as Merritt McKinney and Dave Franco as Jack Wilder are both entertaining and act with some skill. Sidecharacters Morgan Freeman as Thaddeus Bradley and Michael Caine as Arthur Tressler are both old pros and deliver as usual, but not much more. Doesn't matter that much when you're one of the greats.

The female actresses Isla Fisher as Henley Reeves and Mélanie Laurent as Alma Dray are not as good, but hard to tell if that's the lines they got or if they're simply boring eye candy. They're both OK if expected to just do their respective parts.

The story itself is thin, a little bland and far-fetched and on top of that is built a mirage of claimed fantastic performances, that are well presented, yet are so boring. It's like a standard Las Vegas show without any titillation.

At no point do we see anything that _feels_ remotely magical for real. You can compare to a great film like "Prestige" that is far more interesting with deeper story leaving you confounded and with a sense of magic on your footsteps. Not so here, but at least we got entertained.