Now You See Me 2

2013's Now You See Me was not exactly a critic's darling, but it resonated with audiences, including myself.  I found the movie's multi-layered and constantly twisting plot a lot of fun to keep up with, even if it didn't always make sense.  Now we have the sequel, and while it's still fun, it doesn't seem quite as clever as before.  The energy, the cast and the sense of humor is still there, but it didn't have me constantly wondering where it was going like the original did.  For a sequel we probably didn't need, it works fine enough.

Unlike the other major sequel hitting this weekend, The Conjuring 2, prior knowledge of the original movie is definitely required before sitting down to watch Now You See Me 2.  We do get a brief recap of events as the film opens from Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman), the magic debunk specialist who now is sitting behind bars, and seems to be nursing a grudge against the Horsemen, a group of magicians who specialize in uncovering corporate scams and frauds.  The Horsemen have not been seen in the 18 months that have passed in the movie's time line, but they are still around, waiting to make their big return.  They once again include street magician J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), hypnotist Merritt (Woody Harrelson), and card magician Jack Wilder (Dave Franco).  New to the group is the charming Lula (Lizzy Caplan), who steps in for Isla Fisher's character in the first movie.  Fisher's absence is explained away in some very hurried exposition regarding relationship troubles with Atlas. (In reality, Fisher was pregnant, and could not return.)  Also joining up with them once again is Dylan (Mark Ruffalo) an FBI agent who is actually helping the Horsemen.

The Horsemen are called back into action by The Eye, the secret magic society that gives them their marching orders.  This time, they are to take down a tech giant who is about to unveil a new phone device that will secretly steal the information of all of its users.  But when they go to pull the job, it turns out that someone has set up a trap for them.  That someone is Walter Mabry (Daniel Radcliffe), an even shadier tech giant than the one they're originally after, who forcefully recruits the Horsemen to steal the technology for him so that he can use it for his own purposes.  Of course, nothing is quite what it seems.  There are some plot elements that are wildly exciting early on, such as how the Horsemen make their escape down a chute from a New York building, but somehow wind up in a restaurant in Macau, China when they come out the other end.   This alone is intriguing enough to send the mind spinning with possibilities of what other mind-benders the screenplay will come up with.  When we get the explanation behind it, not only is it disappointing, but the movie never quite reaches this level of wonder and excitement ever again.

Now You See Me 2 seems to be trying awfully hard to recapture what made the first movie fun for those who liked it, and while it remains enjoyable, it just didn't leave me with a big, goofy grin on my face as each implausible plot element (a lot of them built around hypnosis in order to explain strange behavior in certain characters) unfolded.  Maybe it's because this time, I was aware of the rules of the game that the movie was playing.  The first one took me by surprise. I didn't know what I was getting into walking in, and knew little to nothing about the film.  And while it constantly stretched credibility, it did so in a way that I found exciting and entertaining, just like a real magic act.  This time, I felt a little bit wiser to what the movie was up to.  True, there were a couple instances where the film caught me off guard, but it didn't happen as much as I wanted.

Still, the cast is having a ball up on the screen, and there are moments when that carries through to the audience.  Morgan Freeman, in particular, has a particularly devilish charm.  Sure, an actor of his caliber could pull off a role in his sleep, but he seems delighted by the chance to be coming back to the character, especially since the movie gives him a tiny bit more to do than last time.  Of the Horsemen, newcomer Lizzy Caplan makes the biggest impression, and gets off the best one liners, while Eisenberg and Franco are pretty much left with scraps.  Harrelson gets off a couple fun moments, and at least gets to stand out.  Like Freeman, Radcliffe seems to be having the time of his life, and embraces playing a sleazy villain for a change.  It's too bad the movie mostly has him standing around and giving orders to his thugs.

Now You See Me 2 is not really bad in any way, it simply feels a little bit less than the original.  It's been made with plenty of good spirit, and it can be fun to watch.  But it also feels largely unnecessary, especially when you think back on the plot and try to sort everything out.  I'm not sorry I saw it.  There just seems to not be as much to this one as before.

See related merchandise at Amazon.com!

0 comments