Now You See Me: Now You Don’t Review: An Entertaining, Sleight-of-Hand Third Movie

The last time we saw the Four Horsemen in the Now You See Me sequel, it ended with this group of skilled magicians being shown a secret entrance that leads them to a spiral staircase. That was 2016, and despite Jon M. Chu’s second movie lacking the panache of Louis Leterrier’s superior original, I was looking forward to what would be the next adventure in the third movie  It sure took Now You See Me 3 — officially titled Now You See Me: Now You Don’t — long enough to show us its grand scheme of all things magic tricks, delaying the act by nearly 10 years.

Now that it’s finally here, the one thing that bothers me is Ruben Fleischer calling the shots for the third movie. He may have been good in Zombieland and its sequel Zombieland: Double Tap, but the rest of his directorial efforts were mostly erratic, with 2018’s Venom being the prime example. And his last movie resulted in a half-baked big-screen adaptation of Naughty Dog’s Uncharted video game. Well, I’m glad Fleischer is back in form in Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, proving he still has what it takes to make an exhilarating movie. Not exactly the level of Leterrier’s first movie, but an improvement over Jon M. Chu’s bloated sequel.

The third Now You See Me movie sees the return of J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg) in a familiar voiceover narration during the opening scene. Then comes the extended magic act as part of a reunion show, where Fleischer gets off to a thrilling start: The Four Horsemen are back. Apart from Daniel, the returning members include mentalist Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson), card manipulator and lock-picking expert Jack Wilder (Dave Franco), and escape artist Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher). The latter marks Fisher’s comeback to the franchise after being missing in action in the second movie, and got replaced by Lizzy Caplan’s Lula May as the new member of the Horsemen.

The setting is a warehouse, where Fleischer and his crew, along with the charismatic cast, showcase their entertaining sleight-of-hand tricks. The intricate technical wizardry is well put together, coupled with the director’s nifty camerawork and Stacey Schroeder’s deft editing. The third movie injects some fresh blood by introducing a younger generation of magicians: Charlie (Justice Smith), Bosco (Dominic Sessa) and June (Ariana Greenblatt). Fleischer does a good job bringing out the best in them, but without overshadowing the franchise’s recurring cast, as the old and new display the kind of fun chemistry of watching them throw quips and questioning each other.

The story soon connects them altogether on a globe-trotting mission revolving around stealing the world’s largest diamond from Veronika Vanderburg (Rosamund Pike), an arrogant South African mogul who is also involved in a money-laundering scheme. Pike has the sneaky, yet elegant poise that makes her a worthy antagonist in the Now You See Me franchise, even when her theatrical-style South African accent can be overwhelming. This leads to the elaborate Antwerp-set private party sequence, with Fleischer pulling all the stops here, from one of the younger magicians impersonating as a renowned photographer trying to get Veronika’s attention, to the nimble bait-and-switch moment.

The fun continues with another elaborate sequence, this time at a French chateau filled with puzzle-solving moments straight out of an action-adventure playbook. At one point, Fleischer shows how dexterous he can be like the magician characters in the movie with a long, single-take set piece that is undoubtedly the highlight of Now You See Me: Now You Don’t. Let’s not forget about the action scenes, like the one with Franco’s Jack goes all Gambit-style in his card-throwing skills.

The subsequent third act may have been a little too far-fetched, especially with the pulled-the-rabbit-out-of-a-hat twist, even though it has its worthwhile moments. Now You See Me: Now You Don’t has its other fair share of shortcomings, namely, Morgan Freeman reprising his role as Thaddeus Bradley is mostly reduced to bringing in heavy-handed exposition, while the movie’s attempt to get emotional in some parts is rather melodramatic. Still, it doesn’t deter me from enjoying most of this third movie.