'Now You See Me: Now You Don't' review: Lots of tricks, not so many treats

What do magicians do when no one else is around? Several of them gather at one point in "Now You See Me: Now You Don’t" and begin impressing each other with card tricks, swishing around a set of cups and balls, and so forth. It’s almost believable until Henley Reeves, played by Isla Fisher, upstages everyone by strutting through a shower of confetti that suddenly matches the color of her dress.

These movies love to stretch credibility, don’t they? The third installment in the "Now You See Me" franchise has the same problem as its predecessors: Despite an appealing cast, snappy plotting and slick direction (this time by Ruben Fleischer), the film doesn’t have much magic. You’re never amazed that anyone pulled off a trick, for the obvious reason that they’re in a movie — and the movie won’t let you forget it.

The aces in this franchise’s deck are, once again, the actors who play the outlaw magicians dubbed the Four Horsemen: Jesse Eisenberg as J. Daniel Atlas, the smart one; Woody Harrelson as Merritt McKinney, a reprobate mentalist; Dave Franco as Jack Wilder, a card sharp (literally, his cards are sharp); and Fisher as Reeves, an escapologist. These characters may not warm anyone’s heart, but they have an appealing shtick — they rob from the rich and give to their fans — and the actors settle easily into their roles.

Would you believe they’ve been doing it since 2013, when the first film debuted? That means it’s time for some next-gen additions, and here they are: snarky Bosco (Dominic Sessa, of "The Holdovers"), amiable Charlie (Justice Smith) and lockpicking expert June (Ariana Greenblatt), none terribly charismatic but all pleasant enough. (Why only three newcomers instead of an even four? Maybe to leave room for the many "surprise" appearances from past characters.) At any rate, the seven magicians team up to take down Veronika Vanderberg, a South African diamond-mining heiress (Rosamund Pike, delivering a sharper, cleverer performance than the movie really needs).

"Now You See Me: Now You Don’t" is packed with twists and reveals, but it’s hard to be shocked when the screenplay (written by a team of four) cares so little about plausibility. If you can suspend disbelief, though, and somehow marvel at the on-screen trickery, you’ll be rewarded with a fluffy little rabbit of a movie.

By Rafer Guzmán

rafer.guzman@newsday.com