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A decade after the Horsemen's performance, three young magicians - Charlie (Justice Smith), Bosco (Dominic Sessa), and June (Ariana Greenblatt) - use holograms and deepfakes to pull off a heist, draining thousands of dollars from a shady crypto bro. The stunt catches the attention of J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), who invites them to join a mission assigned by the enigmatic Eye: steal a valuable diamond from Veronika Vanderberg (Rosamund Pike), whose company helps launder money for criminals. Travelling to Belgium, Daniel soon encounters the other three original Horsemen: Jack Wilder (Dave Franco), Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher), and Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson), who reveal that a mysterious tarot card summoned them. They need all the assistance they can get to disrupt Veronika's criminal empire, with Lula May (Lizzy Caplan) also answering the call, and the team reuniting with Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman).
For a movie about magicians, Now You See Me: Now You Don't is too short on actual magic. Just like the last two movies, many of the acts depicted on-screen are absurdly over-the-top, and there's nothing special about watching digitally-enhanced magical illusions. There are isolated scenes when the picture comes to life, including an extended single take in a booby-trapped mansion showcasing intricate sleight-of-hand without the aid of CGI. However, such moments only highlight how artificial the rest of the illusions feel. And when Veronika finally catches the Horsemen unaware by trapping them and forcing them to improvise, the timing of their escape still perfectly aligns with their overarching master plan. Spontaneity simply does not exist in this universe; everything is always part of the plan.
This point neatly leads into the sequel's major downfall: its stubborn unwillingness to shake up the trademark formula. The climax involves an elaborate, immaculately orchestrated plan that unfolds with mechanical precision, and the magicians apparently possess endless time, money, and resources to construct flawless props and environments without any outside assistance, scrutiny, or even the faintest hint of logistical difficulty. At least heist films like Ocean's Eleven show the construction of replicas, whereas everything here appears out of nowhere. Rather than feeling exhilarating, the movie's intricate scheme feels preordained - another demonstration that the Horsemen's victories are the result of narrative inevitability instead of cleverness. And because the script cannot resist cramming in additional double-crosses, red herrings, mythological teases, and character subplots, the rhythm grows lumpy and erratic. It moves quickly, yet somehow drags.
However, there are positives here. When Now You See Me: Now You Don't finds momentum, the jazzy score and crisp editing give certain set pieces a playful energy, and the globetrotting locations and elaborate production design are undeniably handsome. However, Fleischer lacks a signature style or flourish, and the picture looks like a generic blockbuster rather than anything more eye-catching or distinctive. There's even a blatant nod to Christopher Nolan's Inception in a rotating corridor scene, underscoring the movie's derivative nature.
Isla Fisher's return adds a welcome spark, and Lizzy Caplan also drops in. (This is the first entry in the series without Michael Caine, who retired in 2023.) Meanwhile, Rosamund Pike is clearly having great fun here as a broad, cartoonish villain with a South African accent. She is the only performer who seems to understand that this series works best when it embraces its own silliness. But Pike's deliciously over-the-top energy only highlights how flat some of the returning cast dynamics have become. Woody Harrelson's familiar shtick feels reheated, Jesse Eisenberg's brooding control-freak routine has long since worn thin, and the ensemble's once-snappy chemistry mostly goes through the motions. Even the humour feels inconsistent, with jokes either landing out of rhythm or leaning too heavily on self-satisfied winks. Additionally, the younger magicians feel underdeveloped, more functional than charismatic, and never quite form a dynamic that justifies their narrative prominence.
Now You See Me: Now You Don't enjoys deploying twists in typical heist-movie tradition, while the mythology involving the Eye remains frustratingly muddled - expanded in some areas, ignored in others, and never clarified enough to justify its continued presence. Worse yet, the film cannot stand on its own: the third act pivots into setup for a fourth entry, dangling a new conspiracy and a fresh roster of adversaries, because apparently a self-contained story is the one illusion this series refuses to perform. Now You See Me: Now You Don't is watchable and even sporadically entertaining, but it feels less like a daring new trick than a familiar routine performed one too many times.
5.2/10
