Movie Review—Now You See Me 2

  

Now You See Me 2

by Peter J. O’Connell

Now You See Me 2. Released: June 2116. Runtime: 129 mins. MPAA rating: PG 13 for violence and some language.

Now You See Me (2013) was a fairly enjoyable heist/mindbender flick about a group of magicians (i.e., illusionists) who function as entertaining Robin Hood-types. The “magic” tricks and stunts involved were on the farther frontiers of probability but not into the realm of impossibility.

Now a new director, Jon M. Chu, has brought us a sequel, Now You See Me 2. NYSM2 has a plot too silly and convoluted to bother summarizing, a hideously overbearing score, superfluous characters, so many scenes of cheering crowds that the movie seems more like an account of a rock group’s concert tour than a feature film. Unlike the first film, the illusions are obviously computer-generated rather than seeming done by humans. For that matter, the characters seem more like superhero-types than normal, though extremely talented, people. Curiously, though, the big “reveal” at the finale is neither computer-generated nor a product of great ingenuity. It’s just a letdown, literally and figuratively. Then the movie ends with the characters descending a staircase into darkness. They needn’t bother going down. They are already in a cinematic cellar.

The performances by Daniel Radcliffe, Lizzy Caplan and Woody Harrelson in one of his twin-character roles are annoyingly bad. Dave Franco doesn’t perform at all. Jesse Eisenberg, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Woody Harrelson in the other of his twin-character roles show up to collect checks. Only Mark Ruffalo and Sanaa Lathan act as if they were in a picture that had some merit. One admires their professionalism but pities their misapprehension. What’s a good time to see Now You See Me 2? Never is a good time to see it!