Elusive 3: one big tour too many (review)

Nine years after their last sleight of hand, the “Four Horsemen” return to the stage. Ruben Fleischer, new conductor of the franchise, tries to revive the magic. But something is missing: a little soul…

Elusive 3 starts off with a bang with a fun show. Our vigilante horsemen put on a show which they have the secret to and succeed in stealing the fortune of a few yuppies who have cheated the taxman… Until we understand that these horsemen are only holograms mastered by three young magicians who possess the hypnotic virtuosity of the elders. When the real Horsemen (Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco) arrive recalled by L’Oeil, we say to ourselves that the show can resume. But the machine actually runs out of steam very quickly. Fleischer unfolds a scenario that gets tangled in its twists and turns, too preoccupied with tempo to construct a real mystery. The turns come one after another, the editing shines, the tricks wear out.

However, the ambition is there: to modernize the saga with a new generation supposed to take over. Justice Smith Dominic Sessa and Ariana Greenblatt embody these young connected prodigies, between street magic and digital hacking, symbols of a cinema which desperately seeks to speak to the spirit of the times. But their characters, sketched in haste, never really exist. They pass, like a failed trick: an attractive idea that disappears before having taken shape. The film wants to rejuvenate, without knowing how.

The veterans do what they can: Jesse Eisenberg keeps his nervous irony, Woody Harrelson his mocking casualness, Isla Fisher her mischievous energy. Everyone seems aware that the charm has worn off a little, and plays on self-deprecation. The only real ray of light comes from Rosamund Pike, seductive as a great manipulator with British phlegm and a sexy Flemish accent (she plays an evil diamond dealer). She has fun, stretches, distills an elegant cruelty, as if she came from a film smarter than the one she inhabits.

Perhaps this is the heart of the problem: Elusive 3 wants to create an illusion, but no longer believes in his own magic. As always the story makes no sense, and Fleischer films this great void without any idea or real point of view; the tricks work, but the mystery evaporates. What remains is a brilliant showcase, roughly rhythmic but never lively. A number without dizziness or mystery: the magic, here, is nothing more than a special effect. “It’s all magic or nothing,” said Novalis. We have the answer

By Ruben Fleischer. With Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Rosamund Pike… Duration: 1h53. Released November 12, 2025