User Reviews

The tricks in the first one were much better in my opinion and I honestly felt like there were more in the first one as well. In the second one, why did Woody Harrelson have to play a twin? The whole evil twin thing was not needed. Surely there could have been another actor playing a different relative. I didn't like seeing Woody talking with (basically) himself.

One thing that really bothered me and made me not like it as much was the fact that James Franco's character was in 2 places at once. Let me explain. So, near the end of the movie, when The Four Horsemen were "setting up" their finale, Jack Wilder was performing the Queen trick (his first location). Then it goes to the evil twin finding and walking with Merritt McKinney. Merritt then calls Dylan Rhodes to warn him and the others that Walter and his father are on to where their next location will be. You don't find out until they start describing how the trick was done that Jack Wilder was also at this brotherly encounter (location 2). Jack was the one who hypnotized the evil twin and told him to throw them out of the plane. After Merritt calls Dylan, then Jack, Lula, and Atlas abandon their tricks. So how was Jack able to perform a trick in one location and then hypnotize someone in another location? I know they were magicians, but even magicians can't really be in two locations at once.

This film tells the story of a group of magicians who are going to reveal the secrets of a corporation. However, they get outsmarted and blackmailed. They have to try get an upper hand in a seemingly difficult situation.

I enjoyed the first "Now You See Me" because I was wowed by the mystery and suspense it had. This installment, however, does not provide me with the same experience.

This time round, the film spends a lot of time introducing the new characters and to set the picture. Then, there is a constant stream of trickery, which are unrealistic and unlikely. The plot becomes so far fetched and random, events happening so conveniently that it loses believability, which is the key that made the first film great. There are some scenes in here that's good, but most of the time I am left to wonder when the film is going to end. Unfortunately, I can't see the wire factor in "Now You See Me 2".

Let me start by saying that I didn't like the first "Now You See Me", but I would rate it a 6/10 just for the fact it was SOMEWHAT enjoyable. The sequel is a movie that probably nobody asked for, but yet they did it anyway. 2 hours of poorly directed and written nonsense.

SOME vague spoilers ahead, though you won't care about them at all.

THE PLOT The plot tries to twist and turn a couple of times, but it is just a straight line. To try and spice it up they tried the twist with Morgan Freeman's character, but nobody believed it, not even Mr. Freeman.

THE MAGIC A movie about magic should not be a movie about CGI, which the first movie was and now the second. The Illusionist and The Prestige were doing their magic tricks for the audience IN the movie, for the crowd in that universe. This one does the tricks just for the people watching the movie. Need to make someone disappear? Of course there will be a cut. Need to make someone escape? They simply transform into water. How? Who cares, a magician never reveals his tricks (hint: CGI).

THE LOGISTICS A bunch of random magicians can take over the whole of London on New Year's Eve in half a day without preparation. They can also somehow broadcast their tricks LIVE all over the world, on all TVs in all city centers, etc.

THE PANDERING TO THE Chinese MARKET Yes I know that "entertaining" movies nowadays always have something for the Chinese market: a character, a vase, a flashback scene, etc. But this one went all in: mystical characters that know and see everything, they help the protagonists without a second thought, etc. Oh and did I mention they are literally going to China for some reason, just to show what a great place it is?

THE HEIST SCENE (FLYING CARD) God please make it stop. A 10-minutes scene with a quintillion number of ways it can go wrong - everything works out. How to prevent a heist like that? A single security camera in the room and an underpaid guard watching it. Done.

THE FEMALE CHARACTER Jesus Christ, don't get me started on Lizzy Caplan's character. With a couple of attempts at witty lines about misogyny and discrimination, her character was a caricature of a female character.

JESSE EISENBERG No.

Here's the thing about 2013's "Now You See Me," I didn't hate it but I wasn't completely wowed by it either. Mildly entertaining is how I'd describe it. It's heist caper like Ocean's Eleven but with faster sleight of hand. So to say that "Now You See Me" didn't have its amusing moments, would be a lie. But this sequel however, NOW YOU SEE ME 2, is a big giant mess.

In NOW YOU SEE ME 2, the four horsemen Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Lizzy Caplan, after a year of outwitting the FBI and winning the public's adulation with their Robin Hood-style magic spectacles, resurface for a comeback performance in hopes of exposing the unethical practices of a tech magnate. But a certain revenge plot threatens their impossible heist yet.

The first film had more mystery, thriller and intrigue, so at the very least it kept you engaged, but NOW YOU SEE ME 2 resorts to cheap laughs and a build up that frankly kinda insults our intelligence. The film would like to make you believe that it's smart, it even thinks itself that way, but in its attempt to give you a seemingly intricate and elaborate trick and a big reveal, it gets lost in its own process.

Isla Fisher's Henley whom I thought was a strong female character, got replaced by Lizzy Caplan's Lula who's more concerned about getting laid. For some reason, they had to present Woody Harrelson's character's identical twin brother, also played by Woody Harrelson. I think that was a poor decision on the filmmakers' part. It's bad enough that they had to resort to this annoying unlikable family member, on top of that, they couldn't just get another actor and have it be a brother, instead of identical twin?! Woody Harrelson is a great actor, but watching two of him bantering, that's the point when I stop taking this movie seriously as a piece of entertainment. This franchise says that the closer you look, the less you see. Well, if you step back a bit, you'll see the big picture that NOW YOU SEE ME 2 is not as crafty as it's cracked up to be.

-- Rama's Screen --

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.

This film is undeniably visually dazzling, arguably to the point of being exhausting. But what I'm taking from this dubious new genre, if you could call it that, is that filmmakers shamelessly exploit and yet devalue the nature of real-life illusionism (i.e. "magic"), in which the magician actually has to make something work that looks impossible or highly unlikely (it's a trick), by making use of the nearly endless possibilities of film, in which things that would be impossible in real life can actually be accomplished on screen. So we get things like Lizzy Caplan apparently vanishing into thin air in Atlas's apartment, and since magicians, of course, don't divulge how they accomplish their tricks, the film takes advantage of this by doing things that in all likelihood really are impossible — no explanations or credibility necessary.

Since we all know that you can do all these things in the movies anyway, what's the point of making them into magicians, when you can watch a Harry Potter movie and you don't really have to wonder how people in paintings can move?