The Horsemen are back! The magicians that use various illusions to solve crimes have returned in, Now You See Me: Now You Don’t.

The threequel picks up 10 years after the original film. A group of young magicians, Bosco (Dominic Sessa), Charlie (Justice Smith), and June (Ariana Greenblat) are doing their best Horsemen imitation. The young trio has fake Horsemen magic show they use to unmask corrupt people and give money back to the people – very similar to the Horsemen’s routine in the first film.

After being approached by one of the original Horsemen, Danny Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), the trio is recruited by The Eye. They become part of a plot to steal “The Heart” aka the largest diamond in the world that is shaped like a heart. The diamond is being held by Veronika Vanderburg (Rosamund Pike), the head of a diamond company that helps criminals launder money.

To execute a heist/magic trick this big requires a big team – the remaining members of the original Horsemen join the new crew to help expose Vanderburg and get the diamond.

If you’re a fan of the first film, Now You See Me 2 may have veered off track. Now You See Me: Now You Don’t feels a lot like the first film, in a good way. It has similar motives, a similar plot, there’s globetrotting to various beautiful locations, and multiple misdirections. In some ways director Ruben Fleischer is reheating an old movie but he’s delivering some tasty leftovers. Fans of the franchise will know this film feels very familiar, but they won’t mind.

The best part of the film is Rosamund Pike as the villainous Veronika Vanderburg. She gives a great performance that might be lost in the shadows of silly action comedy. Pike is delightfully evil in all the best ways. Her performance could’ve been too much but she finds the right balance to create a foe that The Horsemen would have to work together to take down.

The magic of this film isn’t onscreen but the film’s ability to be ultimately forgettable, yet still a really fun time. The film attempts a lot of things like gender gap jokes, a crazy police station fight, and a house that’s one gigantic puzzle. All of it works in a silly movie where magicians are an expert heist team, they’re all good at hand-to-hand combat, and have enough money to fly around the world. If can suspend disbelief for those things, you’ll have a fun time. The film goes out of its way not to be overcomplicated and it zeros in on what made the franchise so likeable. It’s not the magic (although it’s very cool), or the characters. The film is fun and the cast seems to be having a fun time in the movie.

Now You See Me: Now You Don’t is a bit childish in a fun way. It’s light, silly, ridiculous, and magical. It never attempts to be more important than it is. Even with the showmanship not being real “magic”, those sequences are really fun. The general audience will have a good time, but fans of the franchise will enjoy this more than most.

Grade: B