Given the changes that occurred between Now You See Me and Now You See Me 2 it’s anyone’s guess as to what the third movie is going to feature, but as far as Jeremy Dick of MovieWeb is describing it there could be a whole new lineup that will interact with the current Four Horsemen, the main actors seen in the last movie. Hopefully the entire cast would be returning for at least a decent run in the movie, but it does sound as though the idea is to move on from what’s already been seen and bring in someone new to offer up a different experience and possibly usher in a new group that will either learn from the Four Horsemen or challenge them in a way that could make for an exciting movie. There’s not a whole lot known about the story at this point other than the fact that it is in development. Likely a few people are probably wondering why this would be the case since the second movie ended on a very good note and kept the mystery alive for the most part as to where and why the Four Horsemen would show up again, if they did. It also left the characters in a good spot since Jack and Lula appeared to get together and Jack even took a big step forward as he took control of a few aspects of the trick in the second movie. Dave Franco’s character was given a great chance to come up from being a street magician as he was in the first movie to being one of the guys in charge in the second movie.
To put it plainly, a third movie would have to be able to really stand out from the first two since the tricks that were presented in the first two movies were pretty impressive and no matter how easily some illusionists and magicians could point out just how they were done, the average person is going to be mystified until it’s all laid out at the end. That in a sense is the charm of these movies, as they do entertain the audience in many ways by showing the tricks and in the end explaining what they were doing and why. The Four Horsemen are basically the Robin Hood gang of the modern era and while they’re not entirely liked or looked upon with favor by the police they do end up getting results that cops, even in movies, don’t tend to produce since going outside the law and tricking the con artists is their specialty. Sometimes being able to outfox the fox is the greatest trick of all, especially when it works.
The idea that Daniel Radcliffe would be coming back though makes it appear that this next movie might be a bit of a grudge match pitting Radcliffe’s character against the Horsemen either by using his own group of illusionists or perhaps with the Horsemen training a new bunch to go after a resurgent bad guy that is out to get his revenge. I could be way off base with both ideas but since revenge has already factored into the first two movies it would appear the best theme to keep following, largely because it prompts even bigger and better tricks and makes the audience think while they’re watching the protagonists square off against the antagonists in a fight that’s basically about who can be sneakier and who can get the drop on each other in the most efficient manner. Obviously the Four Horsemen are great tacticians since they’re able to think several steps ahead and predict just what their opponents are going to do, since that kind of guesswork is something that many people might agree is almost eerie when one thinks of how precise and on point everything they do would need to be in order to work. So the card scene in which they kept flipping the data chip embedded in the playing card to one another while being frisked was a bit much to swallow, but it was a cool effect all the same. There are parts of the movies that thinking individuals would look at with a grin and think that there’s no way that anyone should miss what’s going on, but then again, misdirection and confusion are just two more tricks of the trade that magicians use in order to pull off a stunt that people will believe.
I did already say this but it bears saying again, this next movie will need to be able to meet or raise the bar in relation to the first two since the tricks we’ve seen are impressive but they’re recognizable and the idea of simply being out for revenge is convincing, but there definitely needs to be a slightly different angle. Otherwise it might be a good idea.
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