A fun, entertaining ride full of nostalgia that perfectly sets up a passing on the torch plot, while also fumbling its third act with a revelation that’s hollow and with zero stakes. Sadly, this is the best I can say about Now You See Me, Now You Don’t, the third installment in the magician films franchise. So, is it good?
Like we do all our reviews: short, concise and without any AI, let’s get to the point. The film is better than the second one and as good as the first. While we’ll keep our theory on why is this up to the end of this piece, we can easily say that the film is entertaining and worth every buck you may spend in your local cinema.
The first act is strong, subverting our expectations in several occasions while gifting us with a bit of nostalgia from the previous films. The new group of magicians have amazing chemistry with one another and they show great moments with the previous Horseman. It’s a fun, entertaining adventure that actually goes against something that the second film was infamous for: making magic seem like super powers.
This time, the tricks and the magic is believable. Every single illusion, trickery or sense of magic is grounded. In fact, a sequence where all the horseman do magic between each other, while debunking how they do it, might be the best part of the film. It’s a new strategy of keeping magic real, which gives some credibility to the craft and actual stakes.
Sadly, all that good will and perfectly crafted story is thrown away on the third act. We won’t reveal the twist, but it actually reduces the stakes of the story to zero. Yes, the horseman where in real danger in one or two ocassions, but the final revelation shows that the game was rigged from the start, destroying any sense of urgency.
It also leaves a sense of disgust, at least for me, a fan of the first 2 films, by this Hollywood obsession to show young, Gen X characters being better than the legacy characters on what they do. From act 1 to 2, they actually show respect between characters but then again, Act 3 fumbles it by its huge reveal and it actually got me angry on how the original horseman were used by the new ones as bait. Even putting them in danger!
Finally, as a fun observation, remember the character of Henley Reeves? In case you don’t, she was the romantic interest of Atlas, the unofficial leader of the Horseman. Well, when the second film got greenlight, the actress that plays the character, Isla Fisher, refused to come back, due to her not liking the quality of the script. Now, she could be returning to this film just for an easy paycheck, but the story is really good and shows that it had a good script…until that disappointing third act.
So, is it good? If you don’t think too much about it…yes. A worthy movie to watch on a weekend if you want and can go to the movies. It’s not a turn off your brain film but its entertaining without putting to much mind into it. There may be some scenes you may dislike if you liked the previous films but its without a doubt a better, funnier ride than the second. Just ignore that third act and you’ll be fine.
