AD Alma Dray
So if you had nothing to do with it, then how did the playing card get in the vault?
Daniel Atlas
Oh, yes. That would be...What do the kids call it these days? Oh, yeah, that's right, magic.
Dylan Rhodes
Just answer the question, okay, smart-ass.
Daniel Atlas
[Atlas gives Alma a can of soda]
You can keep that. Don't share it with him. Um, as far as I understand it, when the man from Paris put on the magical helmet, I guess it was -
Dylan Rhodes
Listen to me. If you didn't rob that bank, then you knew about it. Which makes you an accomplice. So if you wanna walk out of here today, I suggest that you start -
Daniel Atlas
Okay, now you listen to me. Unless you think there's a DA in the state of Nevada who'd be willing to make sense of all this to a jury, then we have a show to perform. And you, Agent Rhodes, have a drawing board to get back to.
Dylan Rhodes
You are literally begging to be arrested, you know that?
Daniel Atlas
If it means you would actually do it, then yeah, but you won't. Because if you did, it means that you, and the FBI, and your friends at Interpol actually believe - at an institutional level - in magic. The press would have a field day. And we'd be even more famous than we already are. And you guys would look like idiots even more than you already are. [to Alma] Well, not you, but him, right? [back to Rhodes] You have, what we in the business like to call "nothing up your sleeve". And you know it.
Dylan Rhodes
You wanna know who sat in that chair before you? Mob bosses, murderers and thieves. And you know who put 'em there? The guy who's sitting in this chair. So I warn you, I can maintain my resolve much longer than you can maintain that phony arrogance. And the instant that you even show the slightest crack in that smug façade, I'll be there. I will be all over you like -
Daniel Atlas
Like white on rice? Sorry, that's unfair. Let me warn you. I want you to follow. Because no matter what you think you might know, we will always be one step, three steps, seven steps ahead of you. And just when you think you're catching up, that's when we'll be right behind you. And at no time will you be anywhere other than exactly where I want you to be. So come close, get all over me; because the closer you think you are, the less you'll actually see.
Dylan Rhodes
[lunges towards Atlas]
I’m gonna nail you!
Daniel Atlas
[Atlas chains Rhodes to the table]
Something wrong with that soda, miss?
Daniel Atlas
[Alma shakes the can, with an object inside. She opens it and empties the contents onto the table. A handcuff key is in the soda.]
Oh, shit. [grabs Rhodes' phone before the liquid can touch it] First rule of magic: Always be the smartest guy in the room.
AT Arthur Tressler
What is your role with them?
Thaddeus Bradley
Role?
AT Arthur Tressler
Yes, you seem to know everything about them. What they're gonna do, where they're gonna be.
Thaddeus Bradley
If it makes you feel any better, this wasn't about you.
AT Arthur Tressler
Please tell me why this was not about me.
Thaddeus Bradley
This is a magic trick, Mr Tressler. Played out on a global scale. You, sir, are the "abracadabra", the distraction, while they set up the real trick.
AT Arthur Tressler
I was a $140 million distraction?
Thaddeus Bradley
Yes. And that very ego, which got you involved with them in the first place, is what keeps you from seeing that.
AT Arthur Tressler
You know-
Thaddeus Bradley
"I can destroy you", yes, I know. Well, you won't. And you won't destroy them. Whatever this grand trick is, it was designed a long time ago, and I believe that what's about to follow, is really going to amaze. So I suggest you sit back and enjoy your front row seat. You paid quite a lot of good money for it.
AT Arthur Tressler
Whatever you stand to make...I'll double it, if you expose them now, and destroy them.
Thaddeus Bradley
I stand to make five million.
AT Arthur Tressler
Am I flinching?
Thaddeus Bradley
No, you're not.
MM Merritt McKinney
Thank you. Tonight we would like to try something that will, well, set us a bit apart.
HR Henley Reeves
For our final trick, we're gonna do something never before seen on a Las Vegas stage.
JW Jack Wilder
Or any stage for that matter.
Daniel Atlas
Ladies and gentlemen, tonight we are going to rob a bank.
Daniel Atlas
[first lines]
Come in close. Closer. Because the more you think you see, the easier it will be to fool you. Because what is seeing? You're looking, but what you're actually doing is filtering, interpreting, searching for meaning. My job? To take that most precious of gifts you give me, your attention, and use it against you. I’m going to flip through this deck and I want you to see one card. Not this one. That’s too obvious. Pay close attention. [quickly flips through the deck] That was too fast. I’ll do it again. Are you ready? Okay. [does it again, slower] Now did you see one?
Daniel Atlas
Do you have one in mind?
Daniel Atlas
Now, do you see your card here?
Daniel Atlas
That’s because you’re looking too closely. And what have I been telling you all night? The closer you look…
C Crowd
The less you see.
Daniel Atlas
Let me warn you. I want you to follow. Because no matter what you think you might know, we will always be 1 step, 3 steps, 7 steps ahead of you. And just when you think you're catching up, that's when we'll be right behind you. And at no time will you be anywhere other than exactly where I want you to be. So come close, get all over me; because the closer you think you are, the less you'll actually see.
Dylan Rhodes
So here's my new theory: the legend is that the Eye is everywhere, waiting for the truly great magicians to distinguish themselves from the mediocre ones. Maybe that was you. Deep down inside, you wanted nothing more than to be part of the Eye, but you were never invited, so you tried to destroy them, but instead, what happens? You pissed them off.
