Now You See Me: Now You Don’t – Review

Cert – 12, Run-time – 1 hour 52 minutes, Director – Ruben Fleischer

After a decade apart, the Horsemen (Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, Woody Harrelson) are brought back together alongside a new generation of magicians (Justice Smith, Ariana Greenblatt, Dominic Sessa) to take on a diamond company owner (Rosamund Pike) involved in money laundering.

Magic can be difficult to pull off on film, especially in a $90 million film such as Now You See Me where they let you in on how they pull off some of the tricks. There’s an awareness simply from the production itself of the trickery at hand; the camera, the scripting, the editing. It’s why the grander big reveal moments of the franchise haven’t been as impressive as highlight scenes where the camera follows a series of quick-succession tricks. There’s still an element to this instance in third entry Now You Don’t still highlights a sense of effects trickery, but as the central set of magicians show off their skills trying to outdo and dumbfound each other there’s more of a relaxed nature that embraces the simple performance of magic.

As another globetrotting heist for the Horsemen (Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco), reunited for the first time in a decade by a mysterious set of tarot cards, starts to take place there’s thankfully not as much of a tangled narrative as in the previous sequel to completely overshadow the magical elements. The group, alongside a new generation of magicians (Justice Smith, Ariana Greenblatt, Dominic Sessa) are tasked with stealing one of the biggest diamonds ever found, labelled ‘the heart’, from diamond company owner Veronika Vanderberg (Rosamund Pike), a woman who helps assist arms dealers and war lords with money laundering through her sales.

Tricks and illusions once again come in different forms, working best when not reaching for grand spectacle. There’s an element of theatricality to this film which contrasts with the broader, big-budget elements. Yet, they come across less in individual sequences and more occasional moments of bickering between the characters – largely Eisenberg and Sessa’s duelling frontmen – where dialogue feels particularly on the nose, or characters in shots they’re not fully involved in seemingly being given the direction ‘just react’ and making sure that they really do.

Yet, even with these beats of awkwardness present there’s still a level of enjoyment to be derived from this film. One that calls back to what made the first film the success it was. perhaps with a little bit of egoless showing off, and largely steers away from the issues of the second. As things progress the cast seem to be getting back into the swing of things, after a number of the leads have been away from the characters for almost ten years, and relaxing more into the roles as sequences better incorporate their strengths from lockpicking and escapes to sleight of hand and mentalism.

The midpoint of the film contains some of the best examples of this. While a house of tricks might initially seem like a slightly pointless, although still amusing, exercise plot-wise it soon unveils itself before leading into an entertaining prison sequence. It’s these moments where scenes flow from one to the other with ease, and, again, allow for the skills of the Horsemen to come into play without feeling lazy or just in place to remind us of the fact they’re magicians.

There may be certain points of Now You See Me: Now You Don’t that feel slightly awkward with occasionally clunky dialogue – perhaps a side-effect of four credited screenwriters – and a theatrical nature that doesn’t quite fit the broader tonal surroundings, but there’s still an overall entertaining nature to the film as a whole. One that finds the most enjoyment when it lets loose and remembers why magicians were chosen to lead the events in the original film and having fun with the skills that they can bring to the various scenarios, and little bits of magical nerdery here and there, too.

While the screenplay might occasionally be slightly clunky, the magic in Now You See Me: Now You Don’t isn’t as clunky as previous Horsemen outings, giving entertaining opportunities for the characters to show off their skills away from thoughts of cinema trickery.