Major spoilers ahead for “Now You See Me” and “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t.”

The “Now You See Me” franchise is back after almost a decade with “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t.” The film picks up ten years after the disappearance of the illusionists and modern merry men known as the Four Horsemen. In their absence, a new generation of magicians picked up their helm. As always, there is a sinister capitalist threat looming in the background. This go around our villain is Veronika Vanderberg (Rosamund Pike), CEO of a South African diamond corporation, which the horsemen discover is a money laundering front. When paths cross between old and new generations, the horsemen must work together to take down the evils of capitalism with a daring heist once more. It is safe to say that fans of the franchise will not be disappointed. “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t” is more of the same in the best way possible.

“Now You See Me: Now You Don’t” saw the return of almost all of the original cast, including Isla Fisher who plays Henley Reeves, who was notably absent from the second movie. Fisher’s performance remains sincere, and she continues to provide a nice foil to J. Daniel Atlas’s (Jesse Eisenberg) cocky bravado. Atlas plays the role of the bridge between the two generations, with his characteristic ego pushing against cooperation. Eisenberg’s performance is just as grating as it needs to be, acting as the grounding point for the series. Jack Wilder (Dave Franco) has a smaller role in this film, which makes sense with the expanded cast taking his prior role as the younger comedic relief. Still, Wilder has matured some and continues to pull off his share of charming card tricks. Meritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson) remains an enigma, and Harrelson is truly the only person who can play him. 

I will not hide my distaste for the second movie, “Now You See Me 2.” Beyond having a bad name (we could have had “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t” and Now You 3 Me, but alas), it didn’t have the heart. Lula (Lizzy Caplan) is the one holdover from the second movie that bleeds into the third, which I can’t complain about. Caplan committed to the role of a magician fully and gave the movie some much needed earnestness. It was refreshing to see that the character they likely added to the second movie to meet their woman quota was not removed when Fisher returned. That being said, there was nothing new about the second movie; it was tired.

“Now You See Me: Now You Don’t” breathes life into the franchise with a young cast, allowing them to ground the franchise with their old tricks, while giving the audience new characters to root for. To further endear the audience to the new cast, much of the film sees the next generation pair up with the old. The most obvious pairing is between the headstrong Atlas and Bosco (Dominic Sessa). Bosco is a near carbon-copy of Atlas, just a Gen-Z version. Sessa is wonderfully, cartoonishly arrogant in this role, and he earns the buzz he had around “The Holdovers” (2023). Considering this is Sessa’s second movie ever, and he appears to be picky—I am glad he picked this film. They play well off each other and force each other to face the fact that they may have to actually care about the world; it’s heartwarming. June (Ariana Greenblatt) is the resident locksmith and slightly acrobatic magician. She mainly fills the role of Jack Wilder, and is thus paired up with him. Greenblatt puts on a charming performance, with her and Wilder bringing levity. June is almost their enforcer, with her character being the one on the ground, making sure tricks get done and wearing her many hats well. As before, Meritt is singular and mostly provides support. He plays pawn and briefly highlights June’s skill in some areas, but mainly does his own thing.

Justice Smith is a real stand-out in this film. Smith, who plays Charlie, is initially understated and underestimated. Much like Henley—who provides support to the grander of the Horsemen and has complexes about that—Charlie designs the tricks for Bosco and June to pull off. Charlie is the glue that brings people together. By the film’s end it is revealed that Charlie was a sort-of twist hero all along; he had a personal history with the Vanderberg Company and is seeking reparations. Smith is able to portray this shift from humility to composed vengeance wonderfully, carrying himself as a supervillain to our villain Rosamund, while still being lovable. He becomes the platonic ideal of Atlas, a mastermind who can get out from under his own ego. Above all else, you really root for Charlie. Justice Smith has been around Hollywood for a while, and while this likely isn’t his big break into true stardom, he is worth watching out for.

While lovable characters are definitely integral to the “Now You See Me” franchise, they are not what makes a good magic movie. What makes “Now You See Me” so special to me is the commitment to pulling off their tricks practically. The better part of the film sees the Horsemen head to a magic mansion to receive help from their magical mentor, Amos (Morgan Freeman). In the mansion, there are various illusion-based rooms that add a little magical spirit. There is a classic forced perspective room which makes people into giants or hobbits. This, alongside a room that rotates 360 degrees, were all practical effects. While a forced perspective room may be found in your average children’s museum, the rotating room is harder to pull off, so much so that Eisenberg broke a finger while doing the stunt. It is refreshing to see that clever camera angles, stunt doubles and massive sets are not a lost art. Smaller bits of practical magic are sprinkled throughout, including a seven-minute scene where each Horseman performs a card trick back to back and a classic bait-and-switch of characters involving throwing sheets and moving camera angles very fast. In an echo back to the first “Now You See Me” movie, the final trick is revealed from a false set in front of an audience of Horsemen fans. Keeping with the practical, they built the set to break away so there was a real reveal. “Now You See Me” blurs the lines between what is a magical illusion and good old fashioned human trickery throughout the franchise, but they stay true to the real world where possible. A true magician never reveals his tricks, but in an age of AI and horrible CGI (I’m looking at you de-aged Jeff Goldblum), it’s nice to sneak a peek behind the curtain at some real movie magic. 

The “Now You See Me” franchise is not a serious one. While there is the persistent theme of modernizing Robin Hood, it is more of a backdrop than the main draw. “Now You See Me” is fundamentally about doing cool things with cameras to bring a little magic onto our screens. It is definitely a cash grab with a stacked cast, but it earns its place in Hollywood by being fun. “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t” continues to bring intrigue and optimism about the movie industry to our theaters—it’s a pretty neat trick.