Now You See Me, Now You Don´t

Magic tricks, some people love to see magicians do tricks while others would just rock out at a Metallica concert. I am going to be honest and say i prefer Metallica if i had to choose, being an old school metal fan does make your nostalgic metal heart go warm. I do think there are many talented magicians all over the world, and i have seen some magic shows on TV. Back in the late 80´s i remember watching the magician duo Siegfried & Roy show on Swedish TV, i can´t remember what the show was called but it was filmed in Las Vegas. I only remember some things about that show and they were definetely entertaining. And the stage costumes? I mean no one looked like Siegfried & Roy, they were like the Liberace version of the magic world. I always wondered if they were gay, doesn´t really matter but they definetely knew how to put on a magic show. We have had films inspired by magicians such as the 2006 film The Illusionist, where actor Adward Norton played the magician character Eisenheim the Illusionist. This was a fascinating film for a number iof reasons. First of all the film is inspired by the real Asutrian magician Erik Jan Hanussen, who also was a nazist, hypnotist, mentalist, oculltist and astrologer all combined. The second fascinating detail about the film was we get to see the life that Eisenheim lived during the late 1800´s, how he managed to get himself recognized through his magic shows. The costume design did look great as well i have to admit. Edward Norton is really good in the lead role, and a shout out to actor Paul Giamatti who also does a strong performance. Worth a watch on streamimg or on physical media if you prefer that. Some of you might have seen the magic trick American heist film Now You See Me released in 2013 with an incredible cast such as Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, Mark Ruffalo and Morgan Freeman. A charming heist film i enjoyed back in the day it came out. I did see the sequel in cinema Now You See Me 2 back in 2016, it was alright. I think Michael Caine actually saved this film to be perfectly honest. Now, i never would have expected that we would get a third film in this franchise, but here we are with another film with some casting changes. I did not see this film in cinema, i decided to watch it on VOD instead. Is this a really entertaining heist sequel to this franchise or was this a terrible idea making another one?

Ten years after the Horseman´s last performance. three young illusionists-Charlie Geese ( Justice Smith ), BoscoLeRoy ( Dominic Sessa ), and June Rouclere - impersonate the Horsemen using deepflakes and holograms to drain a corrupt crytocurrency exchange owner´s wallet and share thestolen funds.  They are approached by the real J. Daniel Atlas ( Jesse Eisenberg ) - the fiorman of the Horsemen - who reveals he was sent by the Eye, a secret society of magicians, cia a tarot card to recruit them for a mission to steal the largest diamond called the "Heart Diamond" from Veronika Vandeberg ( Rosamund Pike ), the head of a South African diamond company. To be able to pull this off, they will have to use some of their best magic tricks.

When you make a film franchise by making a third film you have to be able to keep the audience it was made for. The Expendables franchise is a perfect ecample of a franchise who knew how to do that, even if we only had 4 films so far. When it comes to the Now You See Me franchise this is supposed to be made for fans of magicians, magic tricks in general and putting on a show. This is one of the biggest issues that i have with Now You See Me, Now You Don´t. They try to do some magic tricks that are supposed to blow our minds. But if im being completely honest, most of these magic tricks felt boring, predictable and not very exciting at all. It is like they just wanted to cash in on the audience, hoping fans of the previous films would turn up. Instead of focusing on making the magic tricks, they just find a way to make the tricks look cheaper than usual. The good news is that we do have some new team members in this film, unfortunately these young actors characters doesn´t really give much to their characters. I will say though actress Ariana Greenblatt ( who i enjoyed in the 2021 Netflix film Awake ) as the character June at least give some charming scenes, i just wish she would have been given more character development. The old cast from previous films are about the same, and of course Jesse Eisenberg is hard not to like as his character J. Daniel Atlas. But not even his character can bring much magic to this film, when the tricks themselves feel uninspired. A few action scenes are...ok at best? Especially one scene in a magic tricks built house, where the upside down rooms give some enjoyable moments. We do have actress Rosamund Pike here as Veronika, and even if her accent sounds fake at least she is enjoyable to watch in her scenes. Other than that i feel that Now You See Me, Now You Don´t failed as a sequel. Where are the fun magic tricks? Where is the charming tone of the first film? This feels just like it was made just to please true fans of this franchise, but im not so sure this film will please even the fans. I wouldn´t call this a really bad film, i just feel that with so many great actors attached and this is what we got? I would have expected more to be honest. Director Ruben Fleischer directed the Zombieland films which i both enjoyed in the past. Both of them are way better than Now You See Me, Now You Don´t, wich makes this film very forgettable.

Rating: DD