After having been on the run since their last adventures, the Horsemen are reunited. Recruiting a group of new young con artist illusionists, the group hatches a plan to steal one of the largest diamonds in the world from an heiress who may not be all that she seems on the surface, thrusting the group into their highest stakes adventure yet.
Three films later, I’m still not entirely sold on the NOW YOU SEE ME franchise, or what I should think of these movies. They have all the ingredients for a blockbuster – Fantastic ensemble casts, a fun premise fusing magicians and heists, and humor combined with high stakes. Unfortunately, like an amateur illusionist, each film has failed to bring these elements together in a meaningful way, continuing to pile new storylines and plot twists on top of what’s already a very full narrative, while failing to develop existing characters. The fact that these characters are more defined by what magic trick they specialize in than their backstories and development isn’t a good sign.
No two NOW YOU SEE ME movies have had the same director, but the third installment is helmed by Ruben Fleischer, who previously worked on the ZOMBIELAND movies alongside Harrelson and Eisenberg. The return of much of the previous films’ ensemble cast is appreciated, as is the presence of newcomers like Justice Smith, but the movie makes the same mistakes all the previous ones did. There were elements I liked about NOW YOU DON’T. It might even be the best of the three films to date. But the ensemble cast once again gets buried under boring villains, way too many plot points and story beats, and a few too many out-of-left-field plot twists.
What I’ll give NOW YOU DON’T credit for is its tone. The ensemble cast has great chemistry. Seeing series veteran Jesse Eisenberg interacting with the “newbies” to the series is quite entertaining. Woody Harrelson reprises his role as a disgruntled hypnotist; this guy is an American treasure, and I’m glad these movies are at least able to get good performances out of him. There’s a witty quip around each corner, and the scenes of magic are always fun to watch, combined with a heist plot once more.
Unfortunately, once more, the same issues come to light. The characters lack depth, being defined more by the tricks they specialize in than in any concrete character development. At one point the movie even screeches to a halt so the characters can try to one-up each other with their magic tricks. This is simultaneously the best and the worst scene of the movie. Best because it shows off what this series actually does well, but the worst because the filmmakers apparently forgot there was a plot that needed to be followed. Even a character from previous installments gets written off rather abruptly, and is conveniently forgotten a few scenes later.
There’s a plot, but not much of one. Rosamund Pike plays an heiress to a diamond operation, and despite a good enough performance, she’s a one-dimensional stock villainess that brings little to the table. The movie simply doesn’t know when to stop introducing characters and subplots, and it becomes overkill even before the halfway mark. Much of this series has operated on the presence of third-act plot twists, with mixed results, and the ones here are just too much to swallow, and this moviegoer didn’t buy them for one second.
NOW YOU SEE IT: NOW YOU DON’T has some fun moments with its cast and premise, but it’s all smoke and mirrors (in some scenes, literally). This series has all the right ingredients for a blockbuster hit, but no one has been able to successfully complete the illusion yet. It’s the best of the three movies yet, but work is still needed. A fourth installment is likely inevitable, but these movies need to pull a disappearing trick back to the drawing board to ensure that next movie is the one that finally brings everything together. Stream or rent this one, but don’t rush to the theater.