Review – Now You See Me 2

Now You See Me 2 should really be called Now You See Coincidences.  This is a film that is based solely on one character predicting what another character will do.  And of course, everything goes according to plan.  From the placement of a cell phone to knowing how people will react in a particular situation, everything that every character wants works out.

You know what doesn’t work out?  This movie.  Led by an all-star cast who clearly don’t give a shit and plot so predictable and dumb, Now You See Me 2 is anything but magical.

Picking up after the first Now You See Me, the Four Horsemen (Jesse Eisenberg, Dave Franco, Woody Harrelson, Lizzy Caplan, and Mark Ruffalo) are in hiding after pulling their massive heist.  They reemerge to start up again, when there plan is foiled by a tech genius (Daniel Radcliffe) who blackmails the Horsemen into stealing an information chip that forces them to come up with a scheme to save their name.

If you told me their was a movie starring Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Lizzy Caplan, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Daniel Radcliffe, and Mark Ruffalo, I would see that movie in a heartbeat every time.  However, Now You See Me 2 takes this stellar ensemble and wastes them.  Everyone is sleepwalking through their performances, save for Caplan, who actually seems like she is trying.  It’s a damn shame to have such a fine cast wasted on such garbage material.

Magic is suppose to be a mystery and surprise you, but in Now You See Me 2, it does the exact opposite.  All the tricks are so boring and stupid and there are some tricks that make the Horsemen more like superheroes rather than magicians.  Also, the heavy use of CGI ruins all of the tricks.  Unlike good magic movies, like The Prestige (2006), which relied on practical effects, the extreme use of the CGI just makes everything look glossy and overly fake, taking away any cool factor it may have had.  The heist plot isn’t anything special, and the scene when they steal the chip is so preposterous, unnecessary, and almost laugh inducingly stupid.  After that scene, I lost a lot of interest in the film and laughed at the stupidity of the remaining “tricks”, especially the finale and the horrible twist at the end.  I just shook my head and laughed in disappointment.

I wasn’t a big fan of Now You See Me, but I can honestly say, it’s a lot better than Now You See Me 2.  This is a movie about magic that is more focused on heist film trops and action and less on cool, believable magic tricks while at the same time wasting an incredibly talented cast.  Now You See Me 2 is one of the worst movies of 2016.

MY RATING – 1/4

Did you see Now You See Me 2?  What did you think?  Comment below or hit me up on Twitter @kevflix or on Facebook at Kevflix.