J. Daniel Atlas, Jack Wilder, Merritt McKinney and Henley Reeves join forces once again to pull off a diamond heist.
Almost 10 years after their last on-screen outing, the Four Horsemen magic troupe are back for another heist in Now You See Me: Now You Don’t.
In the years since 2016’s Now You See Me 2, the Four Horsemen have retired and gone their separate ways.
However, J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), Jack Wilder (Dave Franco), Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson) and Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher) join forces once again when they each receive a mysterious playing card calling on them to steal a large diamond from the corrupt Vanderberg crime family, run by Veronika Vanderberg (Rosamund Pike).
Atlas receives his card first and assumes his former co-conspirators won’t be interested in the mission, so he recruits three young illusionists – Charlie (Justice Smith), June (Ariana Greenblatt) and Bosco (Dominic Sessa) – to help him pull off the diamond heist.
Naturally, chaos ensues when all seven of them descend upon the gala to get their hands on the diamond.
The Now You See Me franchise has somehow become the Fast and Furious of magic heist movies. The cast is stacked, the plot is beyond far-fetched, and it’s a case of spectacle over logic.
These films have always been pretty ridiculous, but you really have to suspend your disbelief with this one. There are many twists and reveals that may or may not make sense, and the way they pull off the heists is unbelievable.
A film as silly as this should be funny and tongue-in-cheek, like it’s aware of how ludicrous it is, but this outing is nowhere near as funny as it should be. There are some laughs but there should have been way more.
There are too many cast members, and this means nobody really has a chance to shine or do much with their character. However, they are clearly setting it up for the younger trio to take over in future films, so it makes sense to bring in new blood now and pass the torch later.
While the younger newcomers do well, the only cast member who truly makes an impression is Pike, who seems to be having a ball as the fabulous villain. Her South African accent is rather distracting, but otherwise, she makes for a worthy adversary.
Now You See Me: Now You Don’t features plenty of spectacle, heist action, magic tricks and surprises, but these enjoyable moments don’t quite make up for the messy plot.
In cinemas from Friday 14th November.
By Hannah Wales.
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