Now You See Me, Now You Don't

Now You See Me, Now You Don't is like watching a magic act where the magician is talentless and clumsy, but also so arrogant and smug there's almost a perverse pleasure in their ineptitude.

It exists in some fantastical realm where the first two Now You See Me films were cultural touchstones. In every scene, someone wonders how the world has survived ten years without the Horsemen. They are our heroes, in a manner of speaking, a group of smug thieves masquerading as masters of the mystic arts who pull off daring heists not because of skill, but because the script says they do.

As the third film in the franchise, Now You See Me plays like a victory lap for someone who didn't even qualify. Our heroes, Danny (Jesse Eisenberg), Merritt (Woody Harrelson), Jack (Dave Franco), and Henley (Isla Fisher) have long since retired. In their place, a group of young magician bandits have taken to using the Horsemen for their scams.

The trio, Charlie (Justice Smith), Bosco (Dominic Sessa), and June (Ariana Greenblatt), are so thinly drawn they might as well be an optical illusion. They have even less characteristics than the Horsemen because they're simply a Gen-Z version of the same act. Which means they're the same thing, but with lame quips.

Naturally, their act draws the attention of the Horsemen, who've also received mystical Tarot cards from The Eye, a sign from a clandestine agency fighting something, somewhere, somehow, and aparently allergic to email. It's all smoke and mirrors to hide how little the story actually makes sense.

The Horsemen come together, meet with old friends, and help the young trio target a South African CEO of a diamond company (Rosamund Pike). They make grand gestures about how they're all about taking down the big issues, yet their only enemy is a cartoon villain from Saturday morning serials.

Pike, to her credit, at least knows what kind of movie this is. She's gone to the Tim Curry school of culinary arts when it comes to scenery chewing, and her performance is the only lively thing in an otherwise bland show.

Everything else is tiresome and tedious. For an adventure film about magic, there's very little of it on display. Everything either is or looks like CGI, which makes the scenes where our heroes parade around showing off their tricks off-putting. There's an entire sequence just built around them reminding the audience that yes, these are in fact magicians.

But that moment encapsulates everything wrong with this franchise: None of the tricks are real. They exist in a world where rules of gravity or logic don't apply, which makes everything else pointless. If our heroes can do anything when the plot dictates them to, then there is no risk nor reward to the rest of it.

Granted, all of magic is a just sleight of hand and fooling the audience. But a good trick comes with a story. It makes us believe in the falsehood because we like the person misdirecting us. In Now You See Me, everything is explained and explained again because the answers are so convoluted and impossible they cease to matter in the end. The reveals are easy to figure out, too. Just imagine the most unimaginative and lazy answer you can, and you're probably right.

Now You See Me, Now You Don't isn't just a boring film, it's annoyingly dull. Every minute of it reminds us we could and should do so much better. If you want a great film about con artists doing good, watch Rian Johnson's excellent The Brothers Bloom. If you want a heist film with great banter, watch The Sting. In fact, watch anything else except this film.