Now You See Me: Now You Don't Review – A Flashy, Flawed, But Fun Sequel

If it's been a while since you refamiliarized yourself with the "Now You See Me" franchise, that's understandable. The first film, simply titled "Now You See Me," released all the way back in 2013, and its sequel, "Now You See Me 2," hit theaters in 2016. (That second movie should have been called "Now You Don't" so that "Now You Three Me" was available for the threequel, but we digress.) Nearly a decade later, "Zombieland" director Ruben Fleischer takes the reins from Louis Leterrier and Jon M. Chu, who helmed the first two movies, and in doing so, Fleischer reunites with his stars from that franchise — Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson — and brings in new and familiar faces for "Now You See Me: Now You Don't."

The "Now You See Me" movies are unserious, and to be clear, that's a good thing. From the start of this franchise — in fact, before it probably even was a franchise — audiences have enjoyed watching Eisenberg (as arrogant magician J. Daniel "Danny" Atlas), Harrelson (as skilled mentalist Merritt McKinney), Dave Franco (as sleight-of-hand expert Jack Wilder), Isla Fisher (as escape artist Henley Reeves), and a handful of other magic-minded folks pull off mind-bending, reality-defying heists. Part of the fun, honestly, is that some of the tricks, shams, and flim-flams we see from the group of core magicians known as the Four Horsemen have little to no basis in reality, try as the movies might to make sense of these illusions.

Thankfully, "Now You See Me: Now You Don't" isn't trying to break any new ground for the franchise. It's not getting serious, it's not a gritty overhaul of what audiences liked about the first two movies, and it's at its best when it doesn't take itself too seriously. "Now You See Me: Now You Don't" is pretty to look at, pretty dumb, and pretty freakin' fun.

Every one of the "Now You See Me" films has featured an unbelievably charismatic villain, and the 2025 installment is no exception. Following in the footsteps of Michael Caine's Arthur Tressler in the first film and his corrupt illegitimate son played by Daniel Radcliffe in the second, "Now You See Me: Now You Don't" brings "Gone Girl" veteran Rosamund Pike into the mix as South African diamond magnate Veronika Vanderberg, whose accent is South Afrikaaner by way of Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat. Despite the distractingly silly accent, Pike is quite clearly having a blast as Veronika, who swans around in absolutely incredible outfits — shout-out to the film's costume designer Sophie Canale, the real magician in this equation — and drops expositionary lines like it's nobody's business. Aside from Pike, the movie also introduces three new young magicians; specifically, a cohort of Gen-Z wisecrackers who try to usurp the Four Horsemen's apparently empty throne.

We meet Charlie (Justice Smith), Bosco Leroy (Dominic Sessa), and June (Ariana Greenblatt) as they stage a deepfaked show of the Horsemen to fleece a crowd; that's when the entire gang comes together to try and boost a diamond the size of a man's fist that happens to belong to Veronika and her unbelievably wealthy family. After bank heists in the first film and an attempt to stop a corrupt data breach in the second, a jewel heist is a nice return to form for the "Now You See Me" franchise (and oddly prescient, considering the Louvre Museum was just robbed of hundreds of millions of euros worth of French crown jewels). Smith and Sessa are particularly engaging as newcomers, while Greenblatt flounders thanks to some clunky dialogue and not enough of a defined plotline; as for Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Woody Harrelson, and Dave Franco, they settle back into their roles nicely (especially Eisenberg, who brings a new steely exterior to Atlas).

The most frustrating aspect of "Now You See Me: Now You Don't" is the movie's apparent unwillingness to get out of its own way. The characters spend an inordinate amount of the film's 112 minute runtime saying things like "but you're the Four Horsemen!" or "the odds of this working are 10 million to one" to spoonfeed the audience basic plot points. But when Ruben Fleischer lets the film coast on the charm of its central cast and its own breezy attitude, there are moments of ... well, not near-brilliance, per se, but moments of true cinematic joy. An extended sequence in a house designed like an escape room specifically for the magically-minded is delightful, including a hallway battle that evokes Christopher Nolan's "Inception" and a frankly spectacular one-take shot where every single magician featured in the movie puts their own spin on a relatively "simple" card trick. 

Similarly, when the Four Horsemen and their three newcomers pull off clever misdirection to trick their enemies — and then the film explains how they did it — this feels fun and satisfying. It's in these moments that it becomes clear that, whenever Fleischer and screenwriters Michael Lesslie, Paul Wernick, Rhett Reese, and Seth Grahame-Smith just let the movie speak for itself instead of babying their viewers, the "Now You See Me" franchise has plenty of room to blossom and grow. A fourth movie is in development as of this writing, and even if that upcoming sequel spends too much of its runtime telling the audience the same thing four or five times, you'll still want to experience some of the film's cleverer sequences for yourself. "Now You See Me: Now You Don't" doesn't need to be perfect, and it's not ... but it's a whole lot of fun regardless.

"Now You See Me: Now You Don't" is in theaters now.