The first Now You See Me was a genuine pleasant surprise. I remember it came out and not much was expected from it. It was going up against a couple of other movies coming out that weekend. But it did pretty well and the movie was fun overall. It was a decent heist movie and the characters that they created were cool and you wanted to see more of them. I would have gave the first one an 8/10. I don't know if anyone really needed a sequel to NYSM, it worked as a standalone but with the money it made, of course there would be a sequel. I was happy to go see it and I had a good time but in terms of building off the first one, this one falls flat in similar places and doesn't fulfill the promise that the ending of the original set up.
*Minor Spoilers Ahead* We begin with an introduction from the villain from NYSM 1 Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman). He tells us how The Horsemen J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), Merrit McKinney (Woody Harrelson), Jack Wilder (Dave Franco) and Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher who does not appear in this movie) took the world by storm. Their magic astounded the world and they became Robin Hood like figures, taking down corrupt businessmen including Arthur Tressler (Michael Caine) and rewarding their followers. With the help of the mysterious organization The Eye (supposedly an organization of master magicians who use their talents to help the collective good) they were able to evade the FBI including agent Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) and make a successful getaway. Since their disappearance in New York, they have been in hiding and the world hungers for their return. Unfortunately, they got away and left someone else holding the bag which was Thaddeus who is still in jail having been setup by the Horsemen in the finale of NYSM.
We then flash to Daniel running through the sewers of New York. He comes to a special chamber where he talks to a voice who claims to represent The Eye. Atlas and crew have been in hiding much longer than they expected to be and are tired of biding their time by practising. They have also gotten tired of the passive tactics of their leader *spoiler for NYSM* Dylan and it is alluded to that Daniel thinks he can do better. The voice tells Atlas to be patient, that he will get his chance and that there is an upcoming opportunity for them to return.
The first Now You See Me was a heist movie that tried to do something different rather than a team of car thieves or a team of con men, it was a team of magicians and it was cool to see a different perspective on it. They also brought some interesting and fun to watch magic tricks. This one also brings that element. Sure, not everything that they can do can actually be done but I was willing to forgive that as long as they moved at a quick clip and kept it light, which they did. We do that with other big budget heist movies or superhero movies so if you can ignore the physics, there's good times to be had.
Not only are the tricks that they perform pretty sweet but the chemistry between the crew is strong. While I'm going to criticize the writing later, the dialogue is pretty good and the sense of "family" that you get with the Fast and Furious franchise (which they might be trying to borrow from) is present.
They've got quite a cast here too and they all perform well. Jesse Eisenberg is well suited to his role and he excels as the leader in these movies. Dave Franco is actually given room in this franchise to perform by himself and he also does well. Woody Harrelson is his normal excellent self (I have issues with his dual role but it's not the fault of his acting). Lizzy Caplan is a good fit to fill in for Isla Fisher, she's got good comedic timing and her character is given more personality (I liked Fisher in the original but she's not given much to do outside of working with the group). Mark Ruffalo, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman all come back and are all solid, there's a reason that they are some of the best. I liked Daniel Radcliffe in his role too, it's very self aware casting but he doesn't overdo it as the villain. He does just enough and I'm happy he's getting more and more franchise roles.
Getting to what I didn't like, one of the reasons that Now You See Me worked is that it was pretty unpredictable and fresh up until the end. I'm sad to say that NYSM 2 fails there. Certain things are introduced and it's really obvious how it's going to play into the story later. They write certain twists that are obvious from miles away. How they make one of the original cast play a dual role was really lame. It was really too bad, this movie was close to being something great but more time needed to be spent really smoothing out the rougher parts of the script. It just felt a little rushed so if there is a NYSM 3, hopefully there's a tighter product.
To wrap it up, while there's too many twists and turns and the end is convoluted, unlike NYSM which fizzles towards the end, at least NYSM 2 provides a satisfying payoff. But I wanted to like this movie more than I did. There were moments when it absolutely lives up to the first but how the plot flows cuts it out at the ankles. I would still recommend it to fans of the original as it's far from bad. It's just not the complete package and for me it was a slight disappointment.
*Minor Spoilers Ahead* We begin with an introduction from the villain from NYSM 1 Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman). He tells us how The Horsemen J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), Merrit McKinney (Woody Harrelson), Jack Wilder (Dave Franco) and Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher who does not appear in this movie) took the world by storm. Their magic astounded the world and they became Robin Hood like figures, taking down corrupt businessmen including Arthur Tressler (Michael Caine) and rewarding their followers. With the help of the mysterious organization The Eye (supposedly an organization of master magicians who use their talents to help the collective good) they were able to evade the FBI including agent Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) and make a successful getaway. Since their disappearance in New York, they have been in hiding and the world hungers for their return. Unfortunately, they got away and left someone else holding the bag which was Thaddeus who is still in jail having been setup by the Horsemen in the finale of NYSM.
We then flash to Daniel running through the sewers of New York. He comes to a special chamber where he talks to a voice who claims to represent The Eye. Atlas and crew have been in hiding much longer than they expected to be and are tired of biding their time by practising. They have also gotten tired of the passive tactics of their leader *spoiler for NYSM* Dylan and it is alluded to that Daniel thinks he can do better. The voice tells Atlas to be patient, that he will get his chance and that there is an upcoming opportunity for them to return.
The first Now You See Me was a heist movie that tried to do something different rather than a team of car thieves or a team of con men, it was a team of magicians and it was cool to see a different perspective on it. They also brought some interesting and fun to watch magic tricks. This one also brings that element. Sure, not everything that they can do can actually be done but I was willing to forgive that as long as they moved at a quick clip and kept it light, which they did. We do that with other big budget heist movies or superhero movies so if you can ignore the physics, there's good times to be had.
Not only are the tricks that they perform pretty sweet but the chemistry between the crew is strong. While I'm going to criticize the writing later, the dialogue is pretty good and the sense of "family" that you get with the Fast and Furious franchise (which they might be trying to borrow from) is present.
They've got quite a cast here too and they all perform well. Jesse Eisenberg is well suited to his role and he excels as the leader in these movies. Dave Franco is actually given room in this franchise to perform by himself and he also does well. Woody Harrelson is his normal excellent self (I have issues with his dual role but it's not the fault of his acting). Lizzy Caplan is a good fit to fill in for Isla Fisher, she's got good comedic timing and her character is given more personality (I liked Fisher in the original but she's not given much to do outside of working with the group). Mark Ruffalo, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman all come back and are all solid, there's a reason that they are some of the best. I liked Daniel Radcliffe in his role too, it's very self aware casting but he doesn't overdo it as the villain. He does just enough and I'm happy he's getting more and more franchise roles.
Getting to what I didn't like, one of the reasons that Now You See Me worked is that it was pretty unpredictable and fresh up until the end. I'm sad to say that NYSM 2 fails there. Certain things are introduced and it's really obvious how it's going to play into the story later. They write certain twists that are obvious from miles away. How they make one of the original cast play a dual role was really lame. It was really too bad, this movie was close to being something great but more time needed to be spent really smoothing out the rougher parts of the script. It just felt a little rushed so if there is a NYSM 3, hopefully there's a tighter product.
To wrap it up, while there's too many twists and turns and the end is convoluted, unlike NYSM which fizzles towards the end, at least NYSM 2 provides a satisfying payoff. But I wanted to like this movie more than I did. There were moments when it absolutely lives up to the first but how the plot flows cuts it out at the ankles. I would still recommend it to fans of the original as it's far from bad. It's just not the complete package and for me it was a slight disappointment.