NOW YOU SEE ME: NOW YOU DON’T (2025)

After a 10-year absence, Now You See Me: Now You Don’t sees the outlaw magicians known as the Four Horsemen return, along with some new, younger recruits, to steal a diamond from a billionaire criminal. The threequel smartly takes all the magic of the original films and the cast and adds a little ‘Gen Z Robin Hood’ sensibility to keep the audience interested.

The film switches focus to three young magicians—Charlie (Justice Smith), Bosco (Dominic Sessa), and June (Ariana Greenblatt)—who use the Four Horsemen’s fame to gather crowds in New York City. Bosco’s the showman, a skilled impersonator and confident leader, while June’s an agile pickpocket, and Charlie a human encyclopaedia. All three have been inspired by the ‘stealing from the rich’ concept, which made The Four Horsemen so beloved by the general public.

The opening scene swiftly introduces the cast and reintroduces the lore of the illusionists From then, the film doesn’t stop, speeding through its almost two-hour runtime with ease. Now You See Me: Now You Don’t works equally well for existing fans, new audiences, and casual filmgoers who don’t remember the details of the previous two movies.

The new trio meet their heroes when J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg) recruits them to steal a multi-million-dollar diamond from Veronika Vanderberg’s (Rosamund Pike) literal hands. She’s a powerful heiress using her South African jewel company for illegal activities. Now You See Me: Now You Don’t makes just about enough points about these illicit affairs without weighing down the film with a social consciousness.

As this mission takes the group to Antwerp to commit a robbery, which only feels slightly less ridiculous than the recent real-life Louvre scheme, the movie starts to follow the globe-trotting formula made famous by the James Bond and Mission: Impossible franchises. A mysterious Tarot card’s also led the other Horsemen to Antwerp and sees master of the sleight of hand Jack (Dave Franco), escape artist Henley (Isla Fisher) and mentalist Merritt (Woody Harrelson) reluctantly join the mission. Why they fell out and where they have been in the last decade is presented in bullet points that no one has any time to address fully.

The film never stops, jumping between continents as the team go from French châteaux to New York apartments to Abu Dhabi racetracks. Nearly every moment is a sleight-of-hand trick that purposefully keeps audiences on their toes. This fast-paced dynamic is required to stop people from overthinking the mechanics of the plot. A single second of considered thought, and the entire house of cards collapses. Much like a magic show, Now You See Me: Now You Don’t requires the audience to sit back, suspend their disbelief, and go along with the spectacle.

While the Louis Leterrier-directed original aimed for a sleek Ocean’s Eleven-style heist yarn, this sequel is more self-aware. Magicians using illusions to rob from the poor is a compelling but ridiculous concept, and Now You See Me: Now You Don’t finally grasps this. Now closer to National Treasure (2004) than the slick Clooney franchise, this Ruben Fleischer-directed sequel wears its camp, light-heartedness on its sleeve. Any unrealistic plot MacGuffin is presented with a knowing wink, making it much easier to swallow.

The over-the-top magic tricks, clearly VFX, do wear thin over 113 minutes. An extended scene in the middle, which takes place in a French château turned museum dedicated to magic, gets annoying. The old guard aren’t exactly welcoming to the cocky young hot shots and decide to showboat their skills in a chaotic moment, which does too much visually and nothing narratively.

The banter about their age difference is also uninspired, with Harrelson’s Merritt getting the worst of the young people’s lingo jokes. Luckily, it’s just a few groaners here and there, and not a prominent part of the narrative. Still, the characters are at their best when in their little generational divides, bickering like the family they never had, instead of trying to one-up each other.

Aside from the odd cringe-worthy moment, Now You See Me: Now You Don’t successfully balances the old cast and sensibilities with this new updated group of Gen Z-ers. Miraculously, the writing crams eight characters into the story without it feeling too one-sided. The wise choice to insert a new generation into the story gives the franchise enough legs to keep going for another decade.

It also helps that the new cast are incredibly likeable. Dominic Sessa, who found fame in a star-making turn in The Holdovers (2023), is a marvel. He’s charming, funny, effortlessly performs the stunts and more than holds his own against the likes of Eisenberg, Harrelson, and Franco. Justice Smith (Detective Pikachu) is a little more grounded but makes the most of his limited screen time. Pike is having the most fun as the Bond villainess, chewing scenery with her exaggerated South African accent.

Eisenberg’s Atlas is the least ‘Eisenberg-y’ role in his long career, as the actor transforms into the smug leader once again. Dave Franco’s at his most charismatic too, even more so than in the two previous instalments. Woody Harrelson’s the only member of the OG cast who reins it in and doesn’t always look like he knows where he is this time, but it works with Merritt’s newfound love for drinking in Mexico. Sadly, Isla Fisher, who returns to the franchise after her real-life pregnancy led to her being written out of the second one, still doesn’t get enough to do. Henley remains the most underwritten character in the series.

The franchise has struggled to know what to do with the female characters, turning them into love interests and easily replacing them. While the film makes jokes about these errors, it doesn’t do a lot to fix them. Thankfully, Greenblatt’s June gets a little bit more to do as she parkours her way up buildings and outsmarts her elders. This film works because no one appears solely here for the cheque, and everyone seems to be having an excellent time.

Now You See Me: Now You Don’t is an immensely charming film. It acknowledges its past failings, how ridiculousthe concept of magical heist is and balances the old and the new. Part legacy sequel and part update on a much-loved franchise, Now You See Me: Now You Don’t skips many of the issues associated with belated follow-up films. It knows exactly what it is and who it’s for, never trying to be smarter than it needs to be. Sit back, turn your brain off, and watch the magic unfold.

USA | 2025 | 113 MINUTES | 2.39:1 | COLOUR | ENGLISH

Cast & Crew

director: Ruben Fleischer.
writers: Michael Lesslie, Paul Wernick, Rhett Reese & Seth Grahame-Smith (story by Eric Warren Singer & Michael Lesslie; based on characters created by Boaz Yakin & Edward Ricourt).
starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Isla Fisher, Justice Smith, Dominic Sessa, Ariana Greenblatt, Lizzy Caplan, Rosamund Pike & Morgan Freeman.