Now You See Me: Now You Don’t (2025) Lionsgate/Action-Thriller RT: 112 minutes Rated PG-13 (some strong language, violence, suggestive references) Director: Ruben Fleischer Screenplay: Michael Lesslie, Paul Wernick, Rhett Reese and Seth Grahame-Smith Music: Brian Tyler Cinematography: George Richmond Release date: November 14, 2025 (US) Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Isla Fisher, Lizzy Caplan, Justice Smith, Dominic Sessa, Ariana Greenblatt, Rosamund Pike, Morgan Freeman.
Rating: ***
After nearly a decade of silence, the Four Horsemen are back in Now You See Me: Now You Don’t and this time they’ve brought a few friends. Directed by Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland), it’s the third movie in the series of heist flicks involving a group of stage magicians. They’re out to bring down yet another international criminal with their special sets of skills.
It’s been several years since the Horsemen split up and went their separate ways. Needing a new team to pull off another big trick, leader J. Daniel Atlas (Eisenberg, A Real Pain) recruits a trio of young magicians/social activists- impressionist Bosco (Sessa, The Holdovers), pickpocket June (Greenblatt, Barbie) and behind-the-scenes guy Charlie (Smith, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves)- to help take down Veronika Vanderberg (Pike, Gone Girl), the leader of a South African crime syndicate dealing in diamonds. She’s in possession of “The Heart Diamond”, the biggest diamond in the world. The plan is to steal it and put her out of business…. for good. They’re not the only ones who want the Heart. Veronika is being blackmailed by an anonymous person who threatens to expose her misdeeds to the world unless she hands it over.
Atlas and his new crew plan and execute the heist at a gala affair in Antwerp. They might have been caught if not for the sudden appearance of the other Horsemen- mentalist Merritt (Harrelson, Zombieland), card shark Jack (Franco, Regretting You) and escape artist Henley (Fisher, Wedding Crashers). They too have been summoned by The Eye to help take Veronika down. They get away and go to an estate in France to receive further instructions from their old friend, former magic debunker Thaddeus (Freeman, The Shawshank Redemption). From there, they have to figure out a way to outsmart Veronika who will stop at nothing to get back what isn’t rightfully hers.
I’m not going to waste time dissecting and analyzing Now You See Me: Now You Don’t. There’s no need. It’s not that kind of movie. It’s meant to simply be enjoyed. It expects nothing more from the viewer than total suspense of disbelief. I did just that and thoroughly enjoyed it. Granted, by now the element of surprise is gone. Three movies in and everybody knows not to believe everything they see. Everything is a potential trick or illusion. The fun is trying to figure out how these masters of illusion pulled it off. You see, there’s cleverness in the midst of the silliness.
The cast seems to be having a blast. They all play off against each other so well. It’s great to see the old gang again. The newbies are a nice fit. Pike is perfectly cast. She excels at playing cold-hearted villains. Plus, a few familiar faces pop up (I listed one of them in my header). There’s absolutely nothing to critique here.
I think I’m going to keep my review of Now You See Me: Now You Don’t brief. Is that not the soul of wit according to Oscar Wilde? It’s a fun and entertaining movie. It has plenty of action and cool magic tricks. It also has a nifty surprise plot twist or two. The storyline isn’t anything new, but so what? A movie like this doesn’t need a complex, convoluted plot. It just needs something to hang the cool set-pieces on. This three-quel works better than one would expect. It’s a good movie to check out when all you want to ponder is how much butter flavoring (it’s NOT real butter, people!) to put on your popcorn.
