would the Mark Ruffalo reveal at the end qualify as a climax or resolution?
Perhaps a climax, but since there's no crisis, there can't be a resolution.
Although I assume the audience is supposed to root for the magicians, it seems like a bulk of the story is told from the POV of the detectives.
Pretty much all of the story is told from Dylan's (Ruffalo's) POV. Some has omniscient POV but significantly, one small part has Bradley's (Freeman's) POV. It's near the end when Dylan appears to go from inside Bradley's jail cell to outside Bradley's jail cell. What's happens is not magic. Instead of seeing Bradley (inside the cell) from Dylan's POV (which is what we expect: Dylan's POV), we see Dylan from Bradley's POV instead. You see, Dylan has tricked Bradley into thinking they were together inside the cell. At least, that's the explanation that avoids magical reality. So you see, changing the viewpoint turns magic (Dylan goes through the bars) into simple trickery (Dylan tricked Bradley into thinking they were together inside the cell). POV is important and it's always worth taking the time to figure it out. It helps not only understanding the story, but also how it was made. In this case, the film makers use our expectation that we see Dylan's POV to further trick us (the viewer). It's that sort of tricking-the-viewer that leads people to say that a film tries to be "too clever". "Too clever" is an example of knowing that something is wrong with a film, but not knowing what it is (i.e., having a feeling, but without knowing how to describe it).
It really helps to learn the basics of film making and then use that to figure things out. (Note: politicians also use this sort of manipulation.)
The protagonists are Dylan and The Four Horsemen.
Tension is created during the incitement and especially by the crisis. That's what leads to consequences (falling action) which compels the resolution. Most stories have a crisis, even if it's as trivial as "boy loses girl".
Some stories have no resolution (cliff hangers).
I think you can see how the simple model: Exposition & Inciting moment, Incitement (aka rising action), Crisis, Consequences (aka falling action), Resolution, goes a long way towards explaining (rationalizing) the vast majority of plots.
Oedipus the King provides an excellent reference. I mention it because it's structure is so well delineated and easy to remember that, when I get stuck trying to figure out a film, recalling
Oedipus the King often helps.
Oedipus the King [429 BCE] by Sophocles.
Exposition (in which the chorus recites Oedipus's back story): Dreading a prophecy, the king of Thebes ordered his newborn son killed. But fortune saved the infant, named him Oedipus, and arranged that he be secreted to the city of Corinth and raised as a prince. Upon reaching young manhood, Prince Oedipus of Corinth was informed by an oracle of a prophecy in which he is fated to kill his father and mate with his mother. Horrified, and wishing to save himself and his parents from the prophecy -- his adoption having been kept secret, even from him -- Oedipus fled Corinth and, not knowing he was returning to his birth city, journeyed to Thebes. During his journey Oedipus killed a stranger in an act of hubris -- the
inciting moment -- and later defeated the Sphinx, thereby liberating Thebes from the Sphinx's curse. Upon arriving in Thebes, Oedipus was hailed as its hero and was made king, thereby both filling a recent vacancy and fulfilling the Sphinx's prophecy. King Oedipus then married the reigning queen, settled into a life of kingly service, and was much admired by his subjects.
Incitement: As the chorus ends & the action begins, many years have passed. Thebes is stricken by a plague that, the seers claim, can be relieved by finding the prior king's killer. Oedipus pledges to find the assassin and to either kill or exile him. During his subsequent investigation Oedipus pieces together the shards of legend and prophecy about his own life which were hitherto unknown to him.
Crisis: The dreaded prophecy is realized when Oedipus and his queen discover that he was actually born in Thebes, that the stranger he killed on the road years earlier was the prior king and also his father, and that his queen therefore is also his mother.
Consequences: Oedipus's mother hangs herself. Upon finding her body, Oedipus gouges out his eyes and gives away his misbegotten children.
Resolution: The blind Oedipus goes into solitary exile.
EDIT: I should add this. You might find it interesting. In terms of construction,
Now You See Me most reminds me of a documentary.
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I don't have a dog. And furthermore, my dog doesn't bite. And furthermore, you provoked him.
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