Warning: There will be spoilers
On May 31, 2013, the world was introduced to the world of “Now You See Me”. Though there were mixed reviews, it was a success, earning nearly 351.7 million dollars, which is huge compared to its budget of 75 million dollars. Along with that, it earned countless awards such as the Peoples’ Choice Award and the Empire Award for Best Thriller. After its initial success, the movie was given a sequel: “Now You See Me 2”, which was released in 2016. On Nov. 14, 2025, the third instalment in this series was released to American theaters. Titled “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t”, the third movie grossed 75.5 million dollars all over the world. Despite this, it was reported to be better than its predecessor, with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 59% for the Tomato Meter and 81% on the popcorn meter.
Much like the Rotten Tomatoes, which is done by critics, and the Popcornmeter, which is done by the audience, I will be rating this movie in two ways. The first being through the eyes of a critic; more technical things, like the plot, acting, music, etc. The other way I will be rating is through the eyes of a viewer: enjoyability, consistency, etc.
The original movie revolves around four talented magicians and illusionists, using their talents to plan heists all around the world. Known to the public as the “Four Horsemen”, they do these heists in order to join a secret society called “The Eye”. This society is an ancient group of magicians that date back thousands of years. Their goal is to protect magic and steal from the rich. In order to join this group, the Horsemen must prove their loyalty to The Eye by executing countless Heists, and running from the FBI. After countless plot twists, heists, and daring escapes, the Four Horsemen are inducted into The Eye.
This movie has an incredible cast, made up of well-known actors and actresses. The Four Horsemen are made up of Jesse Eisenberg, who plays J. Daniel Atlas, Woody Harrelson, who plays Merritt McKinney, Dave Franco, who plays Jack Wilder, and Isla Fisher, who plays Henley Reeves, and Morgan Freeman, who plays Thaddeus Bradley, a magician debunker. This cast is amazing, and the new additions in the third movie make it even better.
There are three younger actors added to this cast. This included Ariana Greenblatt, Justice Smith, and Domonic Sessa. Greenblatt, best known for her roles in 2023’s Barbie and the TV show
‘Stuck in the Middle’, plays June, a young runaway girl with promising talent. Smith, who has previously been in Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom, plays Charlie, another young magician who is the mastermind behind their heists. The last addition to the new Horsemen is Bosco, an impressionist and played by Dominic Sessa.
I think these new additions to the cast did a fantastic job. They were believable, funny, charismatic, and natural. Of course, they have all been in big productions prior to this movie. One actor who stood out to me was Sessa. In the beginning, Sessa’s character, Bosco, gets called up to the stage during his fake Horsemen performance. In order for his trick to work, he needs to act like all the horsemen’s psyches are controlling him one at a time; he takes turns acting as each of them. While the actual actors voiced over the speaking, Sessa mimics their mannerisms nearly perfectly. If you weren’t able to recognize each character by the voice, you could do it by seeing how each character walks, holds themselves, and uses their hands while they are ‘controlling’ Bosco. I find this skill extremely impressive, and it stuck out to me as a highlight of this movie and the acting overall.
Pertaining to the rest of the cast, I think they did a pretty good job! They were funny, believable, snarky, and had good chemistry with each other. However, I thought some lines said by the antagonist, Veronika Vanderberg, were a little stale. Rosamund Pike, Veronika’s actress, did have some good deliveries, but was overall dry.
Plot:
The main focus is the Four Horsemen getting back together after a long break, along with the addition of the second movies’ Lula and 3 more young magicians. The Eye has given them a new mission: steal The Heart, the largest diamond in the world, from Veronika Vanderberg. Vanderberg, along with her family, has many secrets about illegal activity throughout their diamond selling business. Along with this main plot, we learn about someone trying to blackmail Vanderberg over her family secrets. Throughout the movie, we see these magicians steal The Heart, learn about Vanderberg’s secrets and make amends with each other. Along with that, there are many mind blowing plot twists about character relations, especially at the end of the movie. The end of the movie sets viewers up for a fourth addition to the series, as well.
All in all, it is a pretty simple plot: a team must steal a diamond from a rich business owner. I wish they had put a little more thought into the plot during production. It feels unoriginal, especially compared to the unique plot of the second movie. Furthermore, I feel as though they could’ve put more effort into showing, not telling. Much of the exposition was told to us by Thaddius, Atlas, or Veronika. For the parts about Veronika’s illegal past, it would’ve been cool if they showed it to us in the form of flashbacks. Then the audience could have their own theories and organically figure it out when the Horsemen do, instead of it being told to us. Along with that, they had a lot of explaining to do with why Henley left for the second movie, and was replaced by Lula. I feel as though they could’ve integrated it better throughout the beginning.
Overall, the plot was simple, and the exposition could have used more work. Along with that, I wish they had developed more for some of the new characters, like June and Bosco. They were very cool characters, but we really didn’t get much about them as people, and they honestly felt very one-dimensional.
Thriller/Heists:
This franchise revolves around magicians, so obviously, the magic tricks must be frequent. In the first two movies, they use magic in nearly every scene. However, in this movie, there are many more fighting scenes compared to magic scenes. There are only two or three instances of their huge magic tricks that I can remember. That happens in the beginning and ending scenes. Yes, those magic tricks were very cool to watch, but I was still left disappointed in the lack of them. Their literal job is to use magic to trick people, yet they barely did that. All in all, I wish they would do more tricks, even if they were simple tricks. It’s basically the main idea of this whole franchise!
Along with that, I wish they did more of the original Horsemen’s magic. There were barely and mind tricks from Merritt, any escaping from Henley, or any card tricks from Jack. Yes, we have new magicians now, but that doesn’t mean we need no magic from the original ones.
Was the Magic Tricks well done?:
Overall, I think the magic tricks throughout were done well, cool to watch, and explained well. In fact, this franchise has done this well for all three movies: they perform a complex magic trick, shock the crowd (and the movie’s audiences), and then explain it in a way that makes the trick so painfully obvious afterwards. Though they were scarce, the magic always amazed and made for a cool getaway.
Rating:
All things considered, this movie is very enjoyable. I think it is funny, easy to follow, cool to watch, and well-made. The characters were witty, smart, and had good chemistry with each other. Along with that, it didn’t take much brain power to follow the plot and characters, making it a good movie to watch when you just want to have a good time. From a viewer perspective, I would give it an 8/10 due to these reasons. It made for a fun watch that I would 100% recommend to others.
However, from the perspective of a critic, I would give this movie a 5.5/10. I think production could have poured more time and effort into the characters, the plot, and a little more magic scattered throughout. It felt rushed and not as thought out as the previous movies. Some characters were shallow, the plot is super simple and unauthentic, and it didn’t really feel like a magic heist: it just felt like a regular heist movie.
Despite the lack of creativity, I would still recommend this to others. Yes, it has its imperfections… but what movie doesn’t. Not everyone is going to be watching this movie from the perspective of a critic. Even though there are some things I would modify, it doesn’t take away from the fact that it was super fun to watch. It is very fun, enjoyable, and I would 100% rewatch this over and over again. However, for future projects in his franchise, I hope they put more consideration into key aspects of a movie, like plot and characters.
