'Now You See Me: Now You Don't' review: This franchise still has some new tricks

Courtesy of Lionsgate

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When watching a movie like “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t,” the third entry in one of this century’s more eyebrow-raising franchises, I like to approach it with the same mindset I bring to something like “National Treasure.” The plausibility of the scenarios is patently ludicrous, yet the movie works just hard enough to make you believe it could theoretically happen. That, after all, is the essence of escapism and why we go to the movies in the first place.

Nearly a decade after the eerily forgettable second film (save for Daniel Radcliffe’s delightfully villainous turn), the franchise proves it still has a few tricks up its sleeve. The secret? A fresh infusion of new faces. “The Holdovers” breakout Dominic Sessa brings an understated charisma to the crew, while Rosamund Pike goes gloriously camp as a South African heiress whose sneering malevolence belongs in a Bond film. If the “Now You See Me” movies deserve credit for anything, it’s their knack for finding the perfect actor to ham up the bad-guy role.

Ruben Fleischer, stepping in for “Wicked” director Jon M. Chu, picks up the story ten years after the last outing. The Horsemen—those elusive Robin Hood-style magicians who “steal from the rich and give to the needy”—have gone dark following a botched job that sent them their separate ways. Filling the vacuum is a new generation of illusionists (Justice Smith, Sessa, and “Barbie’s” Ariana Greenblatt), whose viral sleights of hand and anti–tech-bro stunts catch the attention of Jesse Eisenberg’s J. Daniel Atlas, played, once again, with that endearingly smug precision that’s become his calling card.

Atlas recruits the newcomers for a heist involving a priceless diamond and the sniveling heiress Veronika van der Berg (Pike, twirling her metaphorical mustache with glee). Naturally, it doesn’t take long for the rest of the old gang to reappear: Woody Harrelson’s hypnotist Merritt McKinney, Dave Franco’s card-slinging Jack Wilder—whose flicks now land like ninja stars—and Isla Fisher’s Henley Reever, the escape artist who’s swapped death traps for a husband and kids. 

If the first two films thrived on slick editing and CGI-enhanced trickery, this one works best when it leans into the chemistry between its cast. The interplay between the old guard and the new recruits gives the movie a shot of energy its predecessor sorely lacked. Like the “Fast and Furious” series, these movies function less as intricate capers and more as found-family action comedies. The logic is nonsense, the physics impossible, but watching the team outsmart a cartoonish villain still gets the pulse going.

The standout sequence comes midway through, inside a sprawling mansion where every conceivable magic trick is used to fend off a horde of henchmen. It’s ludicrous, over-the-top, and yet genuinely exhilarating, a reminder of why audiences keep showing up even when the story threatens to collapse under its own contrivances.

To its credit, “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t” feels more confident than the second film. The actors seem comfortable in these roles, as if time away from the franchise allowed them to rediscover what made the first one such a fun surprise. Still, you can sense the gas tank running low. The movie leaves the door open for future installments, but it might be best to step away before the magic wears off entirely.

All told, this remains a C-tier franchise with A-tier charm, completely disposable, sure, but also far more entertaining than it has any right to be. The film gets back to the playful spirit of the original, which arrived in an era dominated by superheroes and spandex and dared to remind audiences that magicians can be just as thrilling. At one point, someone quips that “magicians aren’t superheroes.” I’d beg to differ. Within the heightened, self-contained logic of this world, anything feels possible. The real illusion, as always, is convincing us to keep watching.

Grade: B 

NOW YOU SEE ME: NOW YOU DON’T opens in theaters Friday, November 14th.