Now You See Me, Now You Don’t Review – Ocean’s Eleven from Temu 

For better or worse, the Four Horsemen are back. Maybe it’s five, or six – the numbers aren’t quite clear anymore. Now You See Me, Now You Don’t sees the return of its original cast reappear on the big screen for another take on their Robin Hood story, where they steal from the rich and give to the poor with all the showmanship of a circus magician.

As with the other films, the third film in the franchise is primarily about the Horsemen planning an elaborate magic show as a guise for a much more elaborate story – bringing down a rich person or organisation that has built their wealth through nefarious means, or destroying the planet in some manner. Now You See Me, Now You Don’t doesn’t push the envelope or stray too far from the tried-and-tested. As many shock moments and twists as they attempt to force into the story, it’s still the same premise and formula that we’ve become used to. While the first film still holds up as a solid story, the second and third films don’t hold water in this regard. Instead, watching it simply provides the opportunity to play the guessing game about which character will do what, or to see that something is more than it first appears. Same, same – but different. 

I’ll let the official synopsis explain with a softer approach: “The Four Horsemen are back, along with a new generation of illusionists performing mind-bending twists, turns, impossible surprises, and real-time magic unlike anything captured on film, as they attempt the biggest heist in history while delivering a dose of epic karmic payback.”

Jesse Eisenberg, once again, returns as J. Daniel Atlas, the fast-talking and arrogant leads the magician pack, which includes Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson), Jack Wilder (Dave Franco), Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher) who returns after having gone missing in the second film, and even Lula May (Lizzy Caplan) who replaced Reeves in that same film. Atlas reveals himself to a trio of magicians who used the likeness of the Horsemen to plan an intricate performance to bring down a crypto bro. These magicians include Charlie (Justice Smith), Bosco Leroy (Dominic Sessa) and June (Ariana Greenblatt) 

However, unbeknownst to all of them, The Eye has a much bigger use of their talents. They’re recruited to steal the world’s largest diamond, known as The Heart, from the South African diamond company Vanderberg. Rosamund Pike stars as Veronika Vanderberg, who runs the business of her namesake after her father and founder had passed. The company, as the premise requires, is based on plenty of fraud, money laundering and even as far as a few killings to keep their wealth and power. 

While on the mission, Atlas and the young trio are aided by the rest of the Horsemen, who were also coerced out of retirement, having received their own cards to perform different tasks, helping them escape from their current mission. 

With the Four Horsemen now reunited and the trio also tagging along, the team pair up to continue the bigger mission. And, as you’d expect, the older generation magicians don’t get along particularly well with the young illusionists, each taking turns to attempt to one-up each other with their respective illusionist and magician skills. While it seems great on paper, it’s anything but. The dialogue in such scenes, along with the clearly forced CGI tricks, leaves a lot to be desired. And the same goes for almost all of the heists, illusions and performances along the way. 

As a whole, it’s a fitting analogy for the film – a smashed-together group of misfits where each trick is forced down our throats. It’s also clear that the majority of the film relies heavily on these tricks rather than focusing on the story, and the dialogue is much worse. I could forgive a lot, but there’s no escaping poor dialogue and poor character chemistry. There was a point early in the film, just after the poorly crafted introductions, when it seemed that things might be looking up. However, with a few laughs and actual impressive illusions, it was short-lived and reverted to the same tropes. 

Despite the poor script, Rosamund Pike’s performance as South African Veronika Vanderberg was notable. While I had my doubts at first, realising she’d be portraying the character with a thick South African accent, I immediately feared the worst. That wasn’t the case, however. Although there were a few slips here and there, it was a largely believable portrayal of the accent, complete with all the mannerisms and phrases like “Eish” and “Ag shame.” These were well-received by the other viewers in the theatre, which added immensely to her performance. 

Another crowd-favourite performance was that of Vanderberg’s bodyguard, Lethabo Khoza, played by South African Thabang Molaba. Although his dialogue was much more limited than others, he did well enough representing us on the global stage. His performance was rounded off with a few choreographed fights and other shenanigans. 

While billed as their biggest illusion and most daring heist to date, Now You See Me, Now You Don’t all falls flat due to the script and chemistry. It’s not the worst film by any means, but it had far more potential than it ultimately delivered. While I do feel it will do reasonably well at the Box Office thanks to the first two films, I feel it was a missed opportunity to reignite the franchise and push it to the same heights as the first instalment. 

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