Now You See Me Now You Don’t Review Sparks Gen Z Clash

The Horsemen return with faster wisecracks, bigger illusions and a definite thesis: This time the kids are here to show up their elders.

Now You See Me Now You Don’t makes a half-hearted play for the baton by teaming Jesse Eisenberg’s alpha showman with a trio of plucky nippers and adding an element of generational culture clash to its rote Robin Hood caper. The effect is sporadically amusing but also very much a trick you’ve seen before, albeit with shinier sleights of hand.

A Franchise Banking on Youth Appeal and Repeat Viewers

Lionsgate’s magic-heist series has always been a low performer Stateside, but punched above its weight overseas: The 2013 original earned over $350 million worldwide, while the 2016 sequel clicked in with more than $330 million, according to Box Office Mojo. It makes sense to retool for younger audiences (those under 25 who drive repeat attendance; trackers like EntTelligence have reported that there’s an over-indexing in return visits among that demo for event titles). This one rounds up Dominic Sessa, Ariana Greenblatt and Justice Smith as a trio of D.I.Y. illusionists whose can-do spirit rankles the veteran crew.

But importing a baton-pass blueprint is tricky. Ultimately, the problem is that American distance runners may be looser with one another than at any time in history, but not since Mo Farah decamped here have they been so tight when it comes to making selections. Glance back at recent franchise history and you’ll see a lot of half-handed torches — errant Mission: Impossible succession talk, for example; an attempted Star Wars handoff that mixed new blood with legacy stars more fruitfully. But here the “olds vs. youths” teasing lands laughs in the early going and just never shows a card not yet played one time too many.

The Old Guard Meets the New Crew of Illusionists

Danny Atlas, played by Eisenberg — pricklier than ever — stumbles upon a would-be replacement team: Sessa’s cocky street magician Bosco, Greenblatt’s nimble thief-engineer June and Smith’s tech savant Charlie, who constructs the illusions instead of stealing all the glory.

Their dynamic, of rivalry shading into respect, works best when the script itself trusts silence and mechanics, allowing a setup to quietly snap into place. Too many times, however, the scenes pivot into riffs about slang, trends or “who broke the world,” diluting character with stand-up patter.

A Villain That Hits Close to Home and Industry Nerves

Rosamund Pike floats through as Veronika Vanderberg, a diamond mogul wrapped up in dirty money and grim history. The movie tips its hat toward conflict-finance pipelines — land that is scrutinized by groups like Human Rights Watch and kicked around in the Kimberley Process — hooking up luxury goods to exploitation and war chests. It’s a canny thematic hook, and every scene she touches is elevated by Pike’s cool menace. The Horsemen’s big score, the fabled “Heart Diamond,” bestows urgency on the plot, even when the path that leads there takes a series of zigzags.

Spectacle Over Sleight Leaves Magic Feeling Thin

Onstage, magic intoxicates because you can never take your eyes off it; on film, a camera can do the trick for you. The first couple relied on consultants such as David Kwong, and, in the second film, David Copperfield to root set-pieces in real method. This time around, the action tilts further toward VFX: holographic masks, gravity-bending chases and a ceiling dance that riffs on classic cinema and a certain spinning corridor. It’s slick and feisty, but the overabundance of digital dazzle undermines that tantalizing is-this-real tension cherished by the crowd at the Academy of Magical Arts.

Too Many Cooks on the Script Muddle the Tone

Its screenplay crams in a Murderers’ Row of writers — Seth Grahame-Smith, Michael Lesslie, Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese — whose sensibilities often work at cross-purposes: high-gloss pulp here, sardonic zingers there, and exposition everywhere. Data analyst Stephen Follows, who specializes in the film industry, has pointed out that more credited writers tend to equal lower average audience rating counts; not destiny, but the trend is there. Plot threads maneuver around eight-plus principals and multiple countries, while a twist is telegraphed well in advance, rendering the third act taut rather than revelatory.

Performers Keep the Cards in the Air as Stakes Rise

Star power remains the franchise’s trump card. Eisenberg gives Atlas a brittle edge that jangles against Sessa’s cockiness. Woody Harrelson gleans some chuckles from thin material, and Dave Franco and Isla Fisher slip as effortlessly back into their cons with a smile — Fisher even re-enacts one of her high-wire escapes in this film’s homage to the original’s most captivating image. Of the newcomers, Greenblatt contributes some wiry momentum and Justice Smith is the stealth MVP, calibrating humor and hurt without overselling one or the other.

Verdict: Flashy Fun That Trades Wonder for Spectacle

Now You See Me Now You Don’t is great, glossy fun built around a killer opponent and a crackling ensemble. It’s got generational sparring, delivering texture but also crowding — and the preference for CG wizardry over tactile misdirection blunts the wonder of the original being a sleeper hit. Fans will enjoy the reunion and the banter, but anyone expecting a transcendent trickery move may depart appreciating the showmanship rather than feeling privy to the secret.