It was all the way back in 2013 that audiences were first introduced to the Four Horsemen of Magic – J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson), Jack Wilder (Dave Franco), and Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher). The quartet blurred the line between “magic tricks” and “heists,” in that they would make the money and valuables of rich evildoers disappear and then reappear in the hands of their audiences. The film spawned a 2016 sequel (called “Now You See Me 2,” which raised the question of why they didn’t use the obvious “Now You Don’t” subtitle for that movie) that did so poorly that I didn’t review or even see it. The franchise looked to be dead. But, as we know from the person-sawed-in-half trick, death is much less common in magic than its practitioners would have you believe.

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The new film promises a reunion of the Four Horsemen at a show in Brooklyn. They rip off a crooked crypto bro, but something’s off. The members use cheap special effects to “disappear” into the body of an audience member (Dominic Sessa), who does third-rate impressions of them while two friends in the crowd do the trickier stuff. Once the show is over, we learn that the Horsemen we saw were just holograms. Or at least the movie tells us they were holograms. My guess is that the movie used the real actors for the scenes that weren’t dominated by special effects. That’s a big problem with these movies – they can use shortcuts like editing and off-camera resources to deceive audiences. It robs the scenes of the splendor of stage magic, where the performers can’t rely on the luxury of movie magic.

The show’s three magicians – Bosco (Sessa), June (Ariana Greenblatt), and Charlie (Justice Smith) have never even met the Four Horsemen… until Atlas shows up in their home. He’s mildly impressed by their chutzpah, but tells them that The Eye has a greater purpose for them. Remember The Eye? The magical organization pulling the strings on the heists? The one that turned out to be run by Mark Ruffalo’s Interpol agent in the first movie in a twist that stretched plausibility even for a series this goofy? Then again, the Horsemen themselves have already been impersonated in this movie, maybe someone is impersonating The Eye too.

The rest of the movie is Horsemen both old and new on a globe-trotting adventure to take down dirty diamond dealer Veronika Vanderberg (Rosamund Pike). Based on the film’s advertising, it’s not much of a secret that the other three Horsemen will show up eventually, as well as enemy-turned ally Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman). They may even pull in another member. I don’t think they need the extra help against Vanderberg. She has an amateurish scheme to out-magic at least seven world-class magicians, one that involves the “leaving them to their slow demise without watching” trope that I can’t believe movies are still doing in 2025. I know I’m not supposed to spoil the endings of these movies, but all the suspenseful aspects of the film are little more than a countdown to her “probably” getting busted.

I think it’s funny how I have so many complaints about “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t” – the predictable story, the lame villain and lamer danger, and the reliance on special effects that any proper magician would surely denounce – and yet I recommend the film. The movie is saved for me based almost entirely on the charm of the cast, who have great banter and chemistry. Which is precisely why it’s a good idea to come out with a new movie now, nearly a decade after the last installment. Did this franchise “need” a third movie? No. But is it ever a bad time to give us a movie with this group of charismatic actors doing amusing magic? Also no.

Grade: B-

“Now You See Me: Now You Don’t” is rated PG-13 for some language, violence, and suggestive references. Its running time is 113 minutes.

Contact Bob Garver at rrg251@nyu.edu.