Now You See Me: Now You Don't

 

This review may contain spoilers!

Now You See Me: Now You Don't is the third film in the Now You See Me series, and this time sees our magical Horsemen take on the mogul of an African diamond mine. All of our classic horsemen are back, with some copycat younger recruits in tow, looking to bring justice via an illusion and a trick.

Maybe I like the camp quality of the stage magic and illusions being woven into the plot. Or perhaps I'm a sucker for a heist movie. Whatever it may be, I really enjoy the Now You See Me movies; they have an easy charm to them that I find a lot of major blockbusters struggle to attain these days. A lot of this comes from the chemistry between the cast that emerges through their characters. This cast just bounces and quips off one another so effortlessly, they look like they are having fun with the film, which makes it so easy to have fun with the film as an audience member. Character dynamics being poked and prodded here, new interactions in any given scene made this a movie I found really easy to just sit back and journey with. The heist moments are always quite fun; there's a bit more of a simple twist in the final act that I appreciated. The third Now You See Me might be stuffed with characters, but I think it also chose to go back to basics, and for the most part, that worked for it.

The soundtrack for this movie is a bit more deliberate and has a pop twist that really leans into the performance element of the movie. I think Brian Tyler always shows up to a Now You See Me score; the music in this is dazzling, brimming with adventure and full of showmanship.

Woody Harrelson, who played Merritt McKinney, is one of the funniest performances in this easily; Harrelson's interrogation room scene with Pike is a real high point of the feature. Dave Franco, who played Jack Wilder, is effortlessly charismatic; he's the more outgoing Horseman and puts himself squarely in the face of risk. Isla Fisher, who played Henley Reeves, is a joy to have back; Fisher's character really shows off and gets back to the performance aspect of the magic. Justice Smith, who played Charlie, gives a surprisingly subversive performance; Smith usually plays a more reserved character who finds his strength in a story, and this film has fun twisting that expectation here. Dominic Sessa, who played Bosco, is a new brand of cocky magician that works well for the sequel; Sessa and Eisenberg were such good foils for one another. Morgan Freeman, who played Thaddeus Bradley, really evokes a sense of wonder and mystery in a manner that is classic to him; his death scene was a nice sombre beat to the film. Mark Ruffalo, who played Dylan Rhodes, has one CGI cameo, but it's a great touch; Ruffalo's earnest nature shines through and is as much a part of the magic as anything else. Lizzy Caplan, who played Lula May, steals the show entirely upon her surprise return; her brand of comedy works so well in these films, and she's an easy favourite.

However, the best performance came from Jesse Eisenberg, who played J. Daniel Atlas. These movies and, indeed, the very character of Atlas, feel extremely well-suited to Eisenberg. Atlas is an arrogant illusionist who can live up to his own boastful claims. Eisenberg commands a scene quite naturally and clearly enjoys playing to a crowd. I like that this character is hellbent on a mission, but still struggles with playing well with others. His moments of conflict across the cast are quite fun. I especially enjoyed the back and forth between him and newcomer, Sessa. Eisenberg's reaction to Thaddeus' death is a quiet emotional beat in this that lands quite well. Overall, Eisenberg plays a magician who can feel larger than life, and that suits this series very well.

Now You See Me: Now You Don't can't really escape what it is, the third film in a franchise. At this point, there's a bit of a formula, and it's all on show for us here. Our heroes unite, they find some initial success, then the antagonist starts winning, and then we get the big trick. It's exactly like the past two films. I guess you could apply some "if it ain't broke" thinking to all this, but I feel these movies need to do something fresh to keep themselves going. The dialogue is also a little clunkier, the jokes feel simple, and there is a staggering amount of exposition in the first half of this feature. I also really felt that the new antagonist, Veronika, really didn't live up to the bar set by Caine and Radcliffe. In fact, while the heist itself was fun, the actual initial motive behind the caper isn't a strong hook.

I'm really used to the Now You See Me movies being quite showy, even through the work of the camera. This is a missing element this time around. The camera work is here to frame the characters and steadily capture the scene, but nothing is exciting through the lens. I was likewise quite disappointed with how this movie had some poor cuts and rather average special effects that constantly descended into vanishing smoke bombs.

Ariana Greenblatt, who played June, has been in a lot of major blockbusters now, and it's starting to count against her; it's becoming increasingly clear her range is not so great. Rosamund Pike, who played Veronika Vanderberg, is a surprisingly dull antagonist; it feels like Pike's main motive for being in this film was to give a South African accent a go.

The Now You See Me series has always been a delight to me; that cast has more chemistry than they know what to do with. I would give Now You See Me: Now You Don't a 7.5/10.