As I headed to Regal Green Hills to catch the first showing of “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t,” I felt on top of the world, as the first two movies are among my favorites and part of my monthly rewatch list on Letterboxd. I excitedly scrolled through posts about the movie on social media while waiting for it to start. However, once the movie began, I felt a sense of unfulfillment with how it was made.
“Now You See Me: Now You Don’t” is the third movie in the franchise of heist thriller films about a group of magicians known as the “horsemen” who use their magic tricks to pull off heists that take from the corrupt and give back to the public. The franchise is full of plot twists and tricks that leave you with your jaw dropped and wanting more.
The third movie centers on an adventure spanning multiple countries where the original horsemen are trying to steal a legendary diamond from a corrupt billionaire who built her empire on trafficking and money laundering. During this adventure, they are joined by three new magicians and perform large-scale magic shows to pull off the heist.
In the latest installment, they introduce three new characters — Bosco, Charlie and June — to the original five horsemen — J. Daniel Atlas, Henley Reeves, Jack Wilder, Merritt McKinney and Lula May.
The first thing I noticed is how the new cast lacked the chemistry of the original cast. Part of the magic of the original horsemen was their great chemistry and natural-sounding dialogue. In stark contrast, the dialogue between the new characters felt forced and like they were trying to mimic Generation Z by using phrases that we would find corny. The original cast had the same great chemistry with back-and-forth dialogue that felt like the previous movies and brought the horsemen’s magic back to the screen.
The movie lived up to its franchise in terms of performing outlandish magic tricks and having plot twists, but the practical magic tricks and jaw-dropping plot twists from the first two films were quite toned down here. There was a change in the director of the movies, which could have been why it felt lacking compared to the first two movies.
The magic tricks were obviously CGI and done in a way that made it clear a blue screen was used in many of the big heist scenes, which took away from the magic of the horsemen performing these tricks on the big screen. The first two movies had used CGI for many of the tricks as well, but it wasn’t as prominent as it was in this movie, and the plot twist (which I won’t spoil) felt predictable, unlike the other movies.
There is plenty of discourse on social media about the movie, with most being divided on whether the movie lives up to its predecessors. However, one thing most viewers can agree on is that the first two movies had a plot and script that is too hard to replicate in 2025, where most directors rely on CGI to do the storytelling for them. If there will be a fourth movie, I hope they will bring Jon M. Chu back to direct.
If you’re a Vanderbilt student looking for a movie to watch over Thanksgiving break that doesn’t require your brain, this is a great watch, but if you’re a student who does not want to turn off their brain just yet, maybe give this movie a skip.
