Due to the recent release of the feature film Now You See Me in the US many people have been left wondering: could it really happen? Could magicians really rob a bank?

Well, lets look at the facts: to be a bank robber you have to be daring, deceitful and brave. To be a good magician you have to be all those things and more! If you gave a magician the correct tools to do a magic trick they would be able to do it – therefore, if you gave one the correct tools to rob a bank, I am sure  it would be more than possible for them.

As Jesse Eisenberg’s character, J. Daniel Atlas, says “first rule of magic, always be the smartest guy in the room”. So with years of studying bank robberies and how to get away without getting caught, wouldn’t that make the magician the smartest guy in the bank? Obviously they wouldn’t be able to do it as smoothly as the characters did in the film. But I am sure magicians like Dynamo and David Blane would be able to pull this world class trick off. It could be by “teleporting through time and space” or through using lots of lies and clever mind tricks to get someone to sneak into the bank and then back out with the money. Even if they got caught, a magician never reveals how they did their trick.

The downside of this is that to pull off this trick without being seen would probably cost more than could actually be stolen. In the film they give the money away to the people watching their show, therefore nobody in their right mind would give them the money to set up the trick because they would end up losing millions. Also, they couldn’t fund themselves because after their first heist, they would be broke.

So in conclusion: could magicians rob a bank? Yes. Would they do it? No.

“Now You See Me” comes out in the UK on 3rd July.