Ready for another slight of hand from the Four Horsemen? The third film in the Now You See Me franchise will be released at Cineworld on the 14th November, in which the gang return and take on the next generation of illusionists to help redistribute the wealth in another epic heist.
Need a reminder ahead of its release? Read on as we map out the story so far across the first two films, and book your tickets to Now You See Me: Now You Don’t below!
BOOK NOW YOU SEE ME: NOW YOU DON'T TICKETS
Who are the main characters in the Now You See Me franchise?
There’s J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), whose key skills are card magic and up close illusions. We first meet him carrying out a card trick on a woman on the street. He quickly takes up the role as leader of the group.
Merritt McKinney is played by Woody Harrelson, and his skills as a magician are in mind control as a hypnotist. When he is first introduced, he’s working as a psychic who uses his readings to con businessmen out of money through blackmail before making him forget the interaction ever happened by hypnotising them. He’s known for his dry sense of humour and is the eldest of the group.
Isla Fisher stars as Henley Reeves, an escapologist known for her grand illusions. Our first meeting of Henley is on stage as she performs a masterful escape from a large water tank in which she is shackled. She has a romantic history with Atlas and a fiery, empowered energy.
Lastly, there’s Jack Wilder (Drave Franco) who has an excellent sleight-of-hand, which comes in use when pickpocketing. He’s the youngest and most inexperienced of the group, with a puppy dog eagerness to seek approval from the rest of The Four Horsemen.
What happened in Now You See Me (2013)?
The first Now You See Me film begins with meeting each member of The Four Horsemen before they formally become known as such. Each are incredibly talented magicians who are summoned by a tarot card that brings them together in a New York City apartment by an anonymous benefactor.
We then jump to a year later, in which The Four Horsemen perform their first heist together in Las Vegas, in which they appear to be in two places at once as they rob a bank in Paris, with the stolen money raining down on the audience in an epic finale to their show.
This triggers investigations into The Four Horsemen, with FBI Agent Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) assigned to the case alongside Interpol Detective Alma Dray (Mélanie Laurent), arresting but ultimately releasing the magicians due to no evidence.
A former magician-turned-debunked, Thaddeus Bradley, helps the two to understand the Horsemen’s ticks and tracks them down for their next show in New Orleans. Here, they transfer millions of dollars from their benefactors account – Arthur Tressler, an insurance magnate that denied many insurance claims related to Hurricane Katrina.
This leads Tressler to work with Thaddeus, while Alma makes headway with their investigations, suspecting that the Horsemen may in fact belong to a group called “the Eye”, which endeavours to steal from the rich and powerful and help the vulnerable à la Robin Hood.
The FBI nearly captured the Horsemen after discovering they had tapped Rhode’s phone. During the escape, Jack Wilder seemingly crashes his car and dies, while the remaining three manage to get away.
The Four Horsemen’s final act (as a three) sees them stealing from an Elkhorn Security safe that is marketed as being impenetrable. Managing to keep the FBI off their scent by using a decoy safe, it is revealed that Jack is alive and has circumvented the real safe with the stolen money miraculously found in Thaddeaus’ car, leading him to get arrested.
Dylan Rhodes visits him in jail and it is revealed he is the mastermind behind each heist, avenging his father who was a magician who died in a faulty Elkhorn safe, having been exposed by Thaddeus and denied insurance by Tressler.
The film ends with Dylan Rhodes revealing his revenge to Alma and inviting The Four Horsemen into The Eyes.
An overview of events in Now You See Me 2 (2016)
Set 18 months after the events of the first movie, The Four Horsemen have been in hiding awaiting their first mission from The Eye, now handled by FBI Special Agent Dylan Rhodes. The Horsemen are also looking a bit different, with Henley Reeves absent (Fisher was busy having a baby), replaced by a new magician, Lula May (portrayed by Lizzy Caplan).
Their first mission takes place in NYC where they hijack a phone launch, the CEO of which intends to use the device to secretly collect personal data to sell on. The mission goes wrong, though, with a mysterious individual revealing Dylan’s covert work to the FBI.
The Horseman attempt to escape, but end up in Macau, captured by Merritt’s twin brother, who brings them to Walter Mabry (Daniel Radcliffe). It turns out Walter is the former business partner of the aforementioned CEO, Owen Case, and he wants the Horseman to steal back the chip designed by Walter, which allows anyone in its possession to access any computer system in the world.
Meanwhile, Dylan Rhodes now works as an agent for The Eye and reaches out to the man he framed, Thaddeus Bradley (Freeman) to help him find the Horsemen.
Begrudgingly, the rest of the Horsemen follow Daniel in their quest to get the microchip, but later learn it was all a ploy by Walter, who reveals himself as the son of Arthur Tressler who the Horsemen and Dylan stole from in the first film.
Walter and Arthur attempt to lock Dylan up in a safe and drown him, but he escapes with the help of the Horseman, who then discover their microchip is fake and intend to prevent Walter from getting his hands on the real one.
Their next performance is announced in London on New Years Eve, but their show is disrupted when they are taken by Walter’s men and brought to him on his plane, which also houses Arthur and Owen Chase. They surrender the fake chip and the Horsemen and Dylan are then thrown from the plane.
Another work of illusion, though, it turns out the plane never actually took off and is instead floating on the Thames. All of this is broadcast to the world and Walter, Arthur, and Chase are arrested by the FBI.
The film ends with the Horsemen and Dylan heading to the Greenwich Observatory to meet with the Eye. It is revealed that Thaddeus Bradley is the leader of the Eye, and he and Dylan reconcile when Thaddeus shares that he and Dylan’s father were partners in magic, before announcing Dylan as his successor.
Where do we find characters ahead of Now You See Me: Now You Don’t?
The original members of the Four Horsemen will reunite with Henley Reeves back on board. It appears that Mark Ruffalo as Dylan Rhodes is absent from the film, with Morgan Freeman returning as Thaddeus Bradley to guide the Horsemen in their next mission to steal a heart diamond from the matriarch of a family crime syndicate, Veronika van der Berg (Rosamund Pike). To do this, they will bring into their fold of magicians and illusionists three new recruits.
Get ready for more mind trickery and book your tickets for Now You See Me: Now You Don't, out on 14th November.
BOOK NOW YOU SEE ME: NOW YOU DON'T TICKETS
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