REVIEW — “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t”

Recapturing the magic of the series with slick stunts and surprising new twists and turns, Now You See Me: Now You Don’t is an action-packed, star-powered third entry that, once again, casts an entertaining spell.

In this third entry in the popular Now You See Me franchise, The Four Horsemen (Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Isla Fisher) reunite alongside a new generation of illusionists (Justice Smith, Dominic Sessa, Ariana Greenblatt) for their most global, high-stakes magical adventure yet.

Their mission is to expose the corruption of Veronika Vanderberg (Rosamund Pike), a powerful diamond heiress with ties to arms dealers, traffickers, and warlords. The English actress adopts an effective South African accent as the intimidating and cold-blooded villainess who has become the target of the Horsemen. Aided by the legendary Thaddeus (Morgan Freeman), the two generations of magicians must overcome their differences to try and defeat their cunning and dangerous adversary, in this magic-fueled heist filled with thrilling action, surprising twists and turns, and stunning reveals.

It’s great to see the Four (or Five? or Eight?!) Horsemen finally back together for what could be another trilogy of Robin Hood-esque adventures. After all, the series’ diverse, all-star cast has always been the franchise’s greatest asset, and each actor slides comfortably back into their overly confident, reality-bending characters with ease.

With each of his lines delivered with cross-armed certainty, Eisenberg’s signature. self-assured smarm is firing on all cylinders as leader J. Daniel Atlas. As the card-throwing, sleight-of-hand artist Jack Wilder, Franco’s mouth and hands are still jackrabbit fast. Harrelson’s befuddled drawl as hypnotist/mentalist Merritt McKinney is more in-the-pocket than ever. And Fisher is back in action as Henley Reeves after a brief pregnancy-related absence in Now You See Me 2, in which she was replaced by the capable, quirky and beloved escape artist Lula (Lizzy Caplan), who (mild spoiler) also makes a welcome return.

The film’s new trio of amateur antagonists are equally compelling, each providing their own particular skillset, dose of charisma and splash of comedic relief to help ground the group’s dynamic and move (or manipulate) The OG Horsemen forward. From a screenplay by Seth Grahame-Smith and Michael Lesslie and Paul Wernick & Rhett Reese, director Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland) keeps the action moving at an energetic pace, however, the film often stumbles under the weight of its numerous twists and heavy exposition.

You see, the Now You See Me franchise is basically a series of visually cool stunts and illusions strung together by an often muddled narrative in which the band of thieving magicians, hypnotists and escape artists, are seemingly always several steps ahead of authorities. Unfortunately, when everything is part of a perplexingly grand magical scheme, the big reveals can feel less like genuine magic and more like narrative gymnastics, leaving the audience feeling tricked rather than thrilled. This time, however, the pacing feels a little less rushed, allowing for opportunities for romance, character development and time for the audience to savor the spectacle before the next twist is revealed.

While the series reliably delivers a fun experience and I genuinely welcome future installments, I think its greatest trick has been successfully convincing audiences that they’ve been entertained, even though they may not fully understand what’s going on. For a franchise that has largely been style over substance, Now You See Me: Now You Don’t finally finds the balance. Hopefully, the series doesn’t pull another nine year disappearing act before returning. 3/5

Rated PG-13 with a running time of 1 hours, 52 minutes, Now You See Me: Now You Don’t opens only in theaters on November 14, 2025.