‘Now You See Me, Now You Don’t’ Review

Stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Isla Fisher, Justice Smith, Dominic Sessa, Ariana Greenblatt, Rosamund Pike, Morgan Freeman, Lizzy Caplan | Written by Seth Grahame-Smith, Michael Lesslie, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick | Directed by Ruben Fleischer

Some franchises just flat out refuse to die. That’s evidently the case for the Now You See Me series, which has returned for a third instalment after a nine-year absence, following the original film in 2013 and its sequel, Now You See Me 2, in 2016. Thankfully, however, there’s been a degree of tweaking behind the scenes, as the third film fixes several of the problems of the original films and is comfortably the best in the series as a result.

Perhaps unsurprisingly for this franchise, Now You See Me, Now You Don’t begins with an elaborate fake-out in which the now retired famous illusionist team The Four Horseman – mastermind J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), mentalist Merritt (Woody Harrelson), escapologist Henley (Isla Fisher) and street magician Jack (Dave Franco) – appear to reunite on stage for an elaborate trick that strips a crypto fraudster of his millions. However, that performance turns out to be a deception staged by a trio of activist illusionists – magic history buff Charlie (Justice Smith), nimble pickpocket June (Ariana Greenblatt) and impressionist Bosco (Dominic Sessa) – and when they return to their hideout, they’re startled to find the real Atlas, who’s been instructed to recruit them for a mission.

As Atlas explains, the mission involves stealing a priceless gem from under the nose of corrupt South African magnate Veronika Vanderburg (Rosamund Pike), who secretly uses her diamond mine business to launder money for billionaire wrong’uns. With the remaining three Horsemen also out of retirement and along for the ride, the stage is set for globe-spanning trickery and inter-generational bickering, in equal measure.

The previous movies had several different problems, including uneven tone, incoherent storytelling and what ultimately felt like contempt for the audience in the way they rode roughshod over the rules for con trick movies. There’s supposed to be pleasure in the grand how-we-did-it reveal sequence, and the first movie was so poorly conceived in that regard that it felt almost insulting.

Happily, this time around, everything is a lot clearer, and the reveal sequences make sense. Moreover, director Ruben Fleischer (who’d previously worked with both Eisenberg and Harrison on Zombieland) includes an eclectic series of enjoyable set-pieces, including a racecar chase, a death-trap escape, a superbly staged punch-up in a police station and the highlight, a series of fights in a house of illusions, such as a maze of mirrors and a distorted room.

The original cast are solid across the board, and the new additions are very welcome, as is the eventual return of Lizzy Caplan’s character, who replaced Isla Fisher’s Henley in the second movie. However, the stand-out is Rosamund Pike, who is clearly enjoying herself and comes close to stealing the film with her comic timing and an outrageously over-the-top accent.

That’s not to say there aren’t several problems. For one thing, there’s still a palpable smugness to the whole thing, and the movie is altogether too pleased with itself, without much justification. Similarly, there is some shockingly egregious product placement, with characters spending inordinate amounts of screentime offering each other drinks and talking about how good they are.

One of Now You See Me, Now You Don’t’s most baffling aspects is just how many big-name actors from the previous films have been lured back for cameos. Do audiences really care enough about this franchise to care one way or the other?

In short, despite its problems, Now You See Me, Now You Don’t is a much better threequel than might have been expected, given how poor the previous two films in the series were. It also seems as if the franchise has finally hit on a winning formula (think The Fast and the Furious, with illusions), which is just as well, because a fourth film is apparently on the way.

*** 3/5

Now You See Me, Now You Don’t is in cinemas now.