Early Buzz Crowns Now You See Me 3 a Masterpiece

Well, this is a pleasant surprise: early reactions to the third Now You See Me movie just dropped, and they are weirdly glowing. The franchise that launched back in 2013 is pulling one more rabbit out of the hat, and at least from the first wave of critics, it sounds like the trick lands.

The basics

The movie is called 'Now You See Me: Now You Don't,' it's directed by Ruben Fleischer, and it hits theaters November 14, 2025. Entertainment Weekly teed it up as a reunion for the Four Horsemen, a new crop of illusionists crashing the party, and a bunch of twisty, magic-forward set pieces. So yes, more showmanship, more sleight of hand, more 'wait, how did they do that?'

Who's back on stage

Returning Horsemen include Jesse Eisenberg, Dave Franco, Isla Fisher, and Woody Harrelson. The buzz also keeps name-checking newcomers with last names like Smith, Sessa, and Greenblatt, who seem to be the Gen-Z spark plugs pushing against the veterans. Title note: the 'Now You Don't' subtitle is corny in exactly the way this series loves, and I respect the commitment.

What the first reactions are saying

• Christopher Gallardo calls it an exciting ride loaded with the flashy trick work you want, built around a 'new-gen vs old-gen' clash. He singles out Sessa, Greenblatt, and Smith for stealing scenes.
• Andre Saint-Albin goes big, raving about a diamond heist centerpiece, an 'epic' third act, and Fleischer steering with such snap you could mistake it for actual sorcery. He also highlights the OG Horsemen lineup of Eisenberg, Harrelson, Franco, and Fisher reuniting.
• David Thompson (The Direct) says the magic is back: he's into the new cast, the playful sequences, and the twists that actually pay off.
• Sean Boelman (FandomWire) praises the staging and scale — apparently some of the year's most impressively mounted set pieces — and says the movie blends legacy and fresh blood without losing the popcorn fun.
• Ethan Simmie compares the vibe to a Mission: Impossible installment, but with winks and self-awareness baked in. He's all-in on the 'fun, funny, and meta' angle and says he'd happily watch one of these every year.
• Jonathan Sim (ComingSoon) calls it a funny, high-energy heist with the Horsemen back in constant-motion mode and the newbies making an A+ first impression.

'Now You See Me: Now You Don't is a sleight-of-hand masterpiece!'

So what's the read?

Across the board, the praise clusters around a few things: the old-versus-new dynamic actually works; there's a showstopper diamond heist; the third act goes big; and the movie is unapologetically engineered for crowd-pleasing fun. Some are even tossing around the M-word. If you bounced off the second film's overcomplication, this sounds cleaner: lots of magic, lots of chemistry, and twists that feel satisfying instead of exhausting.

If it holds, Lionsgate might have pulled the neatest trick of all: making a third entry feel fresh without ditching what made the first one hit.