Now You See Me: Now You Don’t

Now You See Me: Now You Don’t Movie Review Rating:

Star Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Isla Fisher, Lizzy Caplan, Justice Smith, Rosamund Pike

Director: Ruben Fleischer

What’s Good: Very little, although it is undeniable that Fleischer knows how to put a film together, but there is no soul in this one.

What’s Bad: The script and performances are soulless, and the direction doesn’t fare any better; it is as if there was zero inspiration behind the project.

Loo Break: Pretty much any scene where they start explaining the plot to you is enough to take a break to the loo.

Watch or Not?: This film is a hard pass; it is better if you just watch something else in the cinema or at home. Watch Predator: Badlands; it’s much better.

Language: English (with subtitles).

Available On: Theaters

Runtime: 112 Minutes.

User Rating:

Hollywood is experiencing a crisis, both at the box office and behind the cameras, as audiences no longer trust that Hollywood can deliver quality entertainment. Hollywood itself proves the audience’s right with films like this one, Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, a sequel that shouldn’t exist, and a movie that screams paycheck gig. In every single instance, no inspiration, passion, or even fun is to be found in this movie.

Now You See Me: Now You Don’t Movie Review: Script Analysis

In a time when the job of a screenwriter is being threatened by the existence of AI models that can write full-length scripts in just a fraction of the time that a human writer would take, it is embarrassing that films like Now You See Me: Now You Don’t exist as it becomes basically the reason why maybe screenwriters should be replaced by AI, really, if this is the best thing a professional writer can come up, then AI seems like a better option.

The script reunites the cast from the original film and its sequel and tries to do a sort of legacy sequel to a franchise that very few people care about, with callbacks to forgettable scenes and references to relationships no one really remembers, all of it wrapped up in a flashy, glossy and overproduced package that screams fakeness and shows only resignation by the creatives behind this film.

The franchise definitely falls short of being a poor man’s Ocean’s 11. It never truly intends to surpass its own franchise, relying on exposition in every scene to explain what is happening, as the story cannot gather any stakes or gravitas on its own. As such, the crime elements feel tacky. The magic elements feel like a gimmick that never truly works because magic tricks in films don’t really work, as they are an art form better performed in a face-to-face environment.

It is hard to say this, but at many points, I wondered if AI could do a better job at, at least, fixing this movie somehow, and that is a bad sign, one that should be a warning to all screenwriters out there. They should step out; as time passes, the substitution option will become increasingly attractive to executives and the audience itself.

Now You See Me: Now You Don’t Movie Review: Star Performance

Overall, the performances are quite disappointing in this film, as none of the actors seem engaged with the material, and all of them have simply accepted the film as a paycheck gig. There is nothing inherently wrong with that. Still, none of them are there to tell this story, and the delivery of the lines really hurts the film. Rosamund Pike gives her best effort, but everyone else feels like reading from a Teleprompter.

Morgan Freeman makes an appearance, but it is so detached from everything that seals the deal that this film was just done as a contractual obligation.