Now You See Me: Now You Don't. A Review

NOW YOU SEE ME: NOW YOU DON'T

The Four (Plus) Horsemen of Magic ride again in Now You See Me: Now You Don't. There are a few things that, from the get-go, I do not understand. I do not understand why Now You See Me 2 was not titled Now You See Me: Now You Don't. I do not understand why the third film of this series was made almost a decade after the second one. I do not understand why these films are actually popular. Up to point, I do; they can be enjoyable romps if you abandon logic altogether and accept what is given no matter how outlandish or nonsensical. As it stands, this unexpected franchise still isn't as good as it thinks it is. Now You See Me: Now You Don't is probably the best of the bunch. Granted, a low bar to cross but there it is.

Magic fans have cracked the clues to a surprise mystery show by legendary magicians the Four Horsemen. The dominant figure is rapid-fire illusionist J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), who is the master of ceremonies. However, this reunion brings back mind reader and hypnotist Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson), master cards man & sleight-of-hand artist Jack Wilder (Dave Franco) and escape artist Henley Reeves (Isla Fischer). Together, they manage to steal billions of cryptocurrencies from creepy cook Brett Finnegan (Andrew Santino) and give it back to all the show attendees.

However, all this is really a set-up. The Four Horsemen were never really there. Instead, they were a mix of holograms and voice impersonators by three junior magicians. The "random magic show attendee pulled from the audience" is really Bosco LeRoy (Dominic Sessa), the mastermind of this scheme. The ringer was aided by June McClure (Ariana Greenblatt) and Charlie Gies (Justice Smith). Our Three Little Ponies think themselves clever. However, they were not expecting the real J. Daniel Atlas to pop up in their secret loft where they've been squatting. Atlas has been summoned by the powerful and mysterious society known as The Eye to get them to Antwerp.

Why? The Eye is now targeting Veronika Vanderberg (Rosamund Pike). Veronika is a South African diamond mine queen who has been laundering money for various war criminals and dictators. This is something that her father, a Nazi collaborator, had been doing, so she's keeping to the family business. Horseman Number One and his Three Little Ponies now must steal The Heart Diamond, the world's largest diamond that is rarely exhibited. It will be put up for private auction to raise more money. This heist will require not just elaborate disguises and trickery. It will require the remaining Horsemen, who appear at the chaotic auction and successfully swipe the Heart.

Now, it is off to France where they must go and solve more mysteries from The Eye. The Horsemen's frenemy Thaddeus Marcus Bradley (Morgan Freeman) is there to guide them until Veronika and the paid-off French police storm the chateau. The seven Horsemen and Little Ponies are forced apart. It will take their skills to rescue Merritt, Jack and June. It will also require the return of Lula May (Lizzie Caplan), another Horseman who is a mistress of disguise.

All but Merritt manage to escape Veronika's clutches. He, however, knows a hidden Vanderberg secret that might connect to her family's connection to a Vanderberg family murder. A deal is struck: the Heart Diamond in exchange for Merritt. Nothing is as it appears, with more twists and turns involved. Horsemen are in danger; South Africans are exposed. While ultimately everything works out, there might be room for Our Little Ponies to join the Five Horsemen thanks to the hologram of Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo).

Do people even care about logic? The two previous Now You See Me films were not exactly the most plausible of stories. I also can barely remember much of them. I should, perhaps, accept that one goes to a Now You See Me film for the implausibility of everything. Now You See Me: Now You Don't is going all-in for implausibility. 

There are things to admire in Now You See Me: Now You Don't. Some credit should be given to the writing team of Michael Lesslie, Paul Wernick, Rhett Reese and Seth Grahame-Smith for acknowledging Henley and Lula into the film. The film also gave us somewhat logical explanations for the various exploits. For example, how the Heart Diamond managed to get swiped did make some sense.

The film also had a slightly wry, winking manner in how it dealt with some of its characters. When 

We get a battle of generations between the Five Horsemen and the Three Little Ponies. I note that Jessie Eisenberg is a mere nineteen years older than Dominic Sessa. Curiously, Dave Franco and Justice Smith are only a decade apart. As such, it hardly feels like this war between Gen X and Gen Z. I believe Thaddeus described it as "wisdom and skill versus youth and arrogance". Sometimes this was played up a bit. For example, June and Jack informally competed against each other on the art of lockpicking. Gen Z managed to win, thanks in part to its love for Escape Rooms. 

Now You See Me: Now You Don't does manage to integrate the Little Ponies into the Four Horsemen. That should be a credit to director Ruben Fleisher, who kept things going in a pretty solid pace. The film is close to two hours. However, I rarely felt that it lagged. Sometimes it did seem to crawl, such as in the extended Chateau scene. Still, things went relatively smoothly.

There are some other benefits in Now You See Me: Now You Don't in terms of acting. I am nowhere near saying that the performances were good. Far from it. However, it is fascinating to watch Jesse Eisenberg and Justice Smith face off in a battle of who can play themselves the worst. Eisenberg and Smith are not actors. They have never been actors. They probably will never be actors. In every film that they are in, they play the same type. As such, seeing them together is weirdly fascinating. One wonders which one will try to play a character.

As a side note, the age gap between Eisenberg and Smith is 12 years.  

Rosamund Pike is loving her South African accent and playing this Bond villain. She's had some experience given her role in Die Another Day. In Now You See Me: Now You Don't, Pike seems to revel in Veronika Vanderberg's villainy. Her plan to off the Five Horsemen is so amusing that even a Bond villain like Drax would find it a bit absurd. Why bother sending them to the desert when you can bring the desert to them? Sure, it is easier to just shoot them, but why not give them a magic act-type trap?

In the acting range, Pike and Dominic Sessa were the standouts. Pike was delightfully evil. Sessa, building on his stellar work in The Holdovers, made the leader of Our Little Ponies into a compelling figure. He and Pike face off at the auction, where he pretends to be an environmental activist crashing the event. At one point, he shouts, "ZIP IT, SPARKLES!", which did make me laugh.

Everyone else save for two were serviceable. I am not saying that they were great. They were exactly as I said: serviceable. Harrelson, Franco, Fischer and Caplan all know their characters. They were not stretching but they were not embarrassing themselves. Ariana Greenblatt did not add or subtract in her role as the mistress of misdirection.

We now come to our non-actors. Jesse Eisenberg and Justice Smith, as stated, never actually act as in portray characters who are not themselves. It is a contest to see who can try to act and look worse. Eisenberg has a particularly bad moment when attempting to mourn Thaddeus. There was no emotion whatsoever from Eisenberg. I think he might have moved his head a bit. That, for him, is displaying deep grief.

Justice Smith, I would say, beats Eisenberg in the "bad actor even when playing himself" role. I think it is because for reasons unknown to all mankind, Now You See Me: Now You Don't choose to center the film around Charlie. I will give grudging respect to a film that has Justice Smith wear a cap reading "I Am An Twerp". I found that amusing and maybe descriptive. 

We get a twist involving Charlie that is both predictable and laughable. To be fair, little hints are dropped through the film. However, I found the shocking twist a bit preposterous.

Then again, the Now You See Me films have always hung on being preposterous. They also hang on everything going exactly right. This entire plot hangs on there being a master plan that had been decades in the making. It asks us to believe that despite being world-famous and photographed often, Veronika would not recognize famed photographer Marc Schriber (Dominic Allburn). It also asks us to believe that Schriber would be so easily fooled by Our Little Ponies. 

I suppose that I am being too harsh with Now You See Me: Now You Don't. All of the films have been fine until it goes one step too far for me. This third film, with a fourth teased at the end, is probably the best of the bunch. That is a low bar, but there it is. "You can do magic; you can have anything that you desire", the band America sings. I desire a Now You See Me film that makes sense and I can enjoy without turning my brain off.  

DECISION: C-