Now You See Me: Now You Don’t review – magic thriller is a turn-your-brain-off masterpiece

Now You See Me: Now You Don’t is just as stupid as its title and premise implies, an almost-decade too late follow-up to an already braindead franchise that somehow missed one of the most obvious sequel titles in cinema history.

Starring almost everyone who has ever been in a major Hollywood film ever, the first two films almost admirably ran with one of the most absurd conceits for a blockbuster ever put to screen to gloriously baffling effect.

The first film pitted Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher and Dave Franco, a quartet of world-famous magicians known as the Horsemen, against FBI agent Dylan Rhodes, played by Mark Ruffalo at his angriest, Spotlight including.

Legendary elders Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman were also thrown into the mix, while the sequel introduced Lizzy Caplan’s Lula May, an edgy new addition who specialises in faking self-mutilation.

Through a blend of sleight-of-hand, hypnotism and illusions, they staged impossible heists to redistribute wealth to their loyal fans and were recruited by a shadowy organisation known as the Eye, a Robin Hood-esque organisation with similarly altruistic intentions.

They are perhaps two of the most bafflingly dumb, albeit enjoyably so, big-screen releases of the past decade to turn a profit at the box office, so it’s with a number of red flags that the long-delayed third entry arrives in cinemas. Surprisingly, it just about works thanks to the still charming cast and some welcome practical action and nods to the history of illusion courtesy of capable new director, Ruben Fleischer.

This time, the disbanded Horsemen, including Fisher returning as Henley Reeves after skipping the sequel, are drawn back together by a mysterious mastermind with a vendetta against mega-rich South African diamond baron Veronika van der Berg (Rosamund Pike).

Along for the ride are three plucky young newcomers, played by Justice Smith, Ariana Greenblatt and Dominic Sessa, who begin the film aping their heroes’ gimmicks but eventually emerge as charismatic illusionists in their own right. While their addition makes this the most egregiously over-stuffed of the franchise so far, Fleischer and screenwriter Michael Lesslie get the balance just right, smartly pairing up the OG Horsemen with their younger analogues for snarky, Avengers-style banter that doesn’t overstay its welcome.

Furthermore, Pike’s Veronika finally gives the series the villain it deserves, a brilliantly camp, evil billionaire who injects some much-needed pantomime energy to proceedings. Pike’s understanding of the assignment is enjoyably refreshing after especially the first film somehow tried to take its ludicrous premise seriously, while Daniel Radcliffe’s appearance in Now You See Me 2 provided little beyond a sheepish wink to that other magical franchise.

Pike’s sophisticated rage and poised pettiness even makes up for the fact that the Horsemen’s third act rug-pull is essentially a re-do of the second film’s last big trick, and watching her get her inevitable comeuppance is so much more satisfying this time round thanks to some surprisingly effective reveals.

Now You Don’t also has far more reverence for the art of simple, practical magic this time round after the first two films used a disappointing amount of visual effects trickery to bring the Horsemen’s illusions to life.

Now, action sequences in which the magical heroes use all the tricks up their sleeves in chase scenes and hand-to-hand combat are still just as thrillingly idiotic, but they at least have a sense of tactility to them that make you almost believe that this could all actually happen. And isn’t that just what stage magic is all about?

The highlight of the threequel is a charming detour with Freeman returning as Thaddeus Bradley, the Eye’s grandmaster who has hidden himself away in a haunted mansion that serves as a sort of private museum for the history of magic, complete with trick mirrors, secret passageways and a room filled with Escher staircases. Here, the old and new Horsemen get some respite from the action to get to know each other better, culminating in an impressive single-take game of magical one-upmanship.

No, it never quite manages to escape the simple fact that this is all extremely silly and the action sequences get increasingly repetitive as it goes on. But those keeping their expectations low and their brain on its lowest settings are likely to be entertained.

Inexplicably, the first two entries were modest hits at the box office, though whether the third entry manages to connect after nine years away from the public consciousness is a whole new magic cabinet entirely.

If ‘Now You Three Me’ does succeed in conjuring magical moolah out of thin air, it only remains to determine what the fourth entry will be called. Hopefully ‘Now You See Me: For My Final Trick’.

Now You See Me: Now You Don’t is in UK cinemas from Friday, 14th November.