The “Now You See Me” franchise has never presented itself as prestige cinema, but it’s always promised a good time. These films fall into that rare category of movies you know aren’t great, yet you can’t stop rewatching.
While the first two in the “Now You See Me” franchise might not garner the highest critical acclaim, they happen to be some of my most rewatched films ever. The camaraderie, action and magic have me hooked every time.
Almost a decade later, it’s safe to say that when I heard “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t” would be coming out, I was equally excited and skeptical. In the current climate of constant sequels and remakes, this movie was an obvious cash grab. But still, the thought of my guilty pleasure returning to the big screen was thrilling.
The movie follows the typical “Now You See Me” structure: big spectacles, tricks with many moving parts, rich villains and robin-hood magician heroes. While it was nice to have these elements return, it did feel repetitive at times.
The movie opened with a minimal buildup of the new characters: Bosco Leroy (Dominic Sessa), June McClure (Ariana Greenblatt) and Charlie (Justice Smith). Instead, it hops right into the classic “Now You See Me” style action, opening with the three characters putting on a magic show in the neighborhood of Bushwick in Brooklyn, New York.
This trick gets the attention of J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), who breaks into their apartment. He declares that a secret magic society, The Eye, needs these three magicians to pull off a heist to bring down Veronika Vanderberg (Rosamund Pike), a diamond company CEO whose money comes from dirty sources.
Pike’s character is a bit all over the place. Her accent is too ridiculous at times –– it is almost distracting. However, by the end, her character is so campy that she is easy to hate in a non-serious way.
While I wish we got more depth out of the new characters introduced throughout the film, the twist at the end, specifically as it relates to Charlie, got me on board for the potential of seeing more of the three new Horsemen.
There is no doubt that the film is feel-good with sharp, witty jokes. But in terms of joining the ranks of the first two, I don’t know if I’ll find myself returning to rewatch this film again and again. If the film franchise continues, there needs to be a shift in the script to have more substance and resist falling into repetitive action sequences.
With the focus on magicians, possibilities for tricks and heists should be endless. Yet, aside from the very last trick in “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t,” it feels incredibly formulaic.
My biased, cheesy love for the first two films did mean that the ending, and cameo from Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo), left a smile on my face.
In the end, the film reminded me why I fell for this franchise in the first place: the thrill of an impossible trick, the charisma of the Horsemen, the giddy satisfaction of a twist that clicks into place. Still, nostalgia can only do so much heavy lifting. If the series wants to earn more than my sentimental grin, it’ll need to reinvent its magic rather than recycle it.
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