Now You See Me: Now You Don’t – The Magic Returns

The ‘Now You See Me’ franchise is one that appeared to be in the rearview mirror but nine years following the release of 2016’s Now You See Me 2, a new installment is upon us in Now You See Me: Now You Don’t (a title that kind of feels out of place for the third film in the franchise but better late than never). That being said, has the magic worn off after all this time? While the short answer is no, what’s different this time around is the choice to surround the Horsemen with some younger talent to change up the dynamic. After so much time away, this proved to be the correct choice, if only to repackage the franchise now and moving forward. For a franchise revolved around magic and suspending belief, logic and sense have clearly left the station a long time ago. However, in spite of this, the film uses this to its advantage (or disadvantage), merely serving as a jumping off point for an incredibly silly watch that still works. At this point, it is best to not think about things too much. In the end, whether or not audiences will still be willing to go on that journey with these characters remains to be seen. Though it may not quite pack the punch of its previous two installments, Now You Don’t delivers an entertaining caper that is lifted, for the most part, by the aforementioned dynamic of characters, both old and new.

Now You See Me: Now You Don’t finds a new group of illusionists front and center, performing their own set of tricks and swindling the privileged in their fight for the everyman. Using methoods that may seem familiar to audiences, they did not exactly go unnoticed by J. Daniel Atlas (Eisenberg) as he quickly caught on to this new group of young upstarts, Bosco (Dominic Sessa), Charlie (Justice Smith), and June (Ariana Greenblatt). The rest of the Horsemen, meanwhile, have gone on their separate ways, much to the chagrin of Atlas. Tasked on a mission to perform one of his biggest tricks yet, Atlas, seeing that he could not do it alone, enlisted the help of the young magicians to help. That trick, stealing an enormously valuable diamond from Veronika Vanderberg (Rosamund Pike), the matriarch of a South African diamond company involved in a wide-ranging money laundering scheme. As the new group proved themselves up to the task, this was only the beginning of the story, as Vanderberg proved to be a worthy adversary in her own right. Not wanting to shy away from the action, the other Horsemen, Merritt McKinney (Harrelson), Jack Wilder (Franco), and Henley Reeves (Fisher), would join the fight.

Treating Vanderberg like any other mark, this fight became personal. Working at the behest of The Eye, it would be up to the Horseman and the upstarts to solve their clues, taking them around the world, to uncover the truth about her and her family’s long criminal mystery, going back generations. Bringing all the twists and turns audiences have grown accustomed to seeing from the franchise, the story became a cast-and-mouse game between Vandenberg and our super group, as they continued to jockey for position. Though the way the film goes about it all is incredibly silly, its flashy magical performances and action sequences are well shot and entertaining to watch in spite of that silliness, putting the characters to the test. With so many characters in play, the script uses the new dynamic in inventive ways by playing the old characters against the new ones, all the while, giving either generation their chances to shine. When it comes to the outcome, it was never in doubt. However, the film still had a few tricks up its sleeve in its attempt to tie the story up in a neat bow. But as far as the eight Horseman are concerned (for lack of a better word), their adventures are far from over.

The best part of Now You See Me: Now You Don’t is its cast. Both the retuning cast and its newcomers each deliver strong performances, as the casting of Sessa, Smith, and Greenblatt compliments the existing dynamic, with the three adding their own youthful energy to the mix. Similarly, the returning cast have not missed a beat. Their chemistry, along with the younger cast, are the major driving force of the film. Silliness aside, it essentially doesn’t matter as they are such a delight to watch, from performing tricks to just riffing off of one another. However, the came could not be said for Pike. As Vanderberg, she does well playing into the campiness of the film’s primary antagonist, but she is also saddled with a terrible South African accent that tempers her down.

Though plenty flawed, Now You See Me: Now You Don’t amps up the silliness in the franchise’s latest installment, delivering magical thrills with a game cast who are all up to the task.

still courtesy of Lionsgate/Cineplex Pictures

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.