Now You See Me 2

"Now You See Me" was a personal guilty pleasure of 2013, it was absolutely unpretentious and unbelievable but it knew it was so and with the help of a talented cast and a couple of good characters and story beats it turned out as a fine time at the theater. Its sequel starts out with the same unpretentious and fun vibe of the first only to slowly escalate up to what becomes one of the most lifeless and visually painful experiences of the year.

As I said the movie started out really fine, in the sense that it was doing what I wanted it to do. Nobody should or would walk into this film expecting the new "Heat", I just wanted to have some dumb fun, with a self referential film that doesn't take anything seriously and up to the fist two set-pieces of the film that's what I was getting. The cast was working the best they could and the action felt fluent and visually pleasing, there was a rhythm to it and a reason for it in particular.

Yet, as soon as we start getting into this film's second act things fall apart to a mind numbing degree and I mean that literally, my mind went blank with the level of stupidity and inconsequentially of what was going on, I watched this film in a state of trance where I couldn't tell if I was dozing off or simply bored to death.

"Now You See Me 2" takes the levels of suspense of disbelief to a whole new world where not even laughing at the film proves to be of any kind of satisfaction, everything going on is just visual noise and other than being filmed in the most uninteresting and unstylish way possible, it has no momentum, no character, it's just there for the sake of extravaganza and it keeps going on for unbelievable amounts of time and it never proves to be any kind of pleasant.

And we haven't even taken into consideration the logistical implications of what happens. It is just crazy. There is no grit of grounding of actions, stuff just keeps happening on top of other stuff and without any kind of character or story implications the film becomes more of a showcase of dull visual tricks. Not to mention the story twists it spices in which are preposterous to even think about and sprinkled with silly clichés and dialogue that not even Ruffalo or Freeman, two of the greatest actors, manage to make even passable.

I got a head ache from this movie, it was a terrible experience, I don't recommend it and the shortness of my review is reflective of how lost with words I am about it.

It's just like the first movie...it takes you into the mind of magic tricks and just how easy, hard and confusing and well timed it can be. It's interesting to see just how they do it, because we keep forgetting it's all fake and not real. This movie is magic mixed with a robbery heist all combined into one.

All the actors return, excluding Isla Fisher. This time we have a lady by the name of Lula (Played by Lizzy Caplan) who, to an extent replaces Isla Fisher. She's actually really funny and charming, to say the least. All the characters are exactly as the same as they were in the first one. We have a new villain by the name of Walter Mabry (played by Daniel Radcliffe.) He wants the Horsemen to capture a certain device so he can have access to everyone's details. Daniel Radcliffe surprisingly makes a good villain.

We rate this 3/5 stars (7/10.) The movie is entertaining, action packed and nonstop guessing and thrills all the way through. Why didn't we rate it higher? We thought it didn't deserve any higher. It's an enjoyable flick, just like the first one. Nothing more, nothing less. Go and check it out. It's worth seeing. -Autistic Reviewers.

Among the other movies in the theaters this week, this is a good choice to spend your two hours..

I think the age warning of above 13 for this movie is actually right. My advice is that if you're above 40, it may not entertain you because this film doesn't include much logic among some events that follow one another.

Another thing is that this is also a movie about a struggle of saving the world from the bad guys. There many movies like that but this movie saves itself from being boring with the humor & sarcasm of the characters. Magics which we cannot come across in real life help a lot to take the movie to a higher position in the audience's point of view.

Best parts of the film:

1. The voyage of the horsemen after they jump through the tunnel.

2. When four of the horsemen are together in a room where they are being searched for a possible theft.

3. The magical performances of the horsemen in a city center at a special day of the year.

4. The audience may not guess how the film will end, will the horsemen succeed or not?

5. There may be a 3rd film of this series.

While the previous film was full of intrigue, mystery, and revelations, this film is a pale comparison to it's prequel. With considerably less action and more talk, the first half of the film manages to bore the audience. As well, this film gives off the feeling of trying too hard to be like the first one that it just falls short.

The acting is fine enough for the Horsemen, as they all reprise their roles. I did like Isla Fisher and her character, but unfortunately she got replaced by Lizzy Caplan, who isn't so bad either. I had a problem with Radcliffe's character. He was too weird, and his background was not very comprehensive. I also found out how short he actually is in this film. In addition, the film introduces Merritt's twin brother, Chase, played by Woody Harrelson. That was another no-no. Though the editing was done well enough between the two characters, the hair on 'Chase' was very obviously a wig which was unnerving. Needless to say, I found that the new characters were not a great addition.

As for the narrative, it kind of continues the story from the first film, but not in as much detail. As well, there are more elements involved in this film that detracts attention away from the main plot. This is what made it messy; with too many things going on the audience doesn't know which to focus on. And with no focus, the narrative just becomes jumbled up.

The effects are cool as usual. I especially liked the scene where they're tossing a card to each other. Visuals and coordination are nicely done there, and managed to engage the audience.

The ending felt a little too deja vu from the first one. As mentioned, it tries too hard to be like its predecessor that it just destroys itself. I'm not saying the film is not enjoyable, but while it isn't totally horrible, there is too much dialogue and not enough action. I'd liked to have seen more tricks, and less new characters who hardly had any foundation.

I really enjoyed the first NOW YOU SEE ME film. I thought that film's premise "magicians robbing a bank" was original and the execution of the unique script by Ed Solomon and Boaz Yakin by director Louis Leterrier was strong. Add to that the casting - Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher and Dave Franco as "The Four Horseman", Melanie Laurent, Common and (especially) Mark Ruffalo as the cops who were chasing them and sprinkle in good ol' Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman into a plot that kept you guessing to the end and you had a fun ride.

My only question was, could the sequel capture the...wait for it...MAGIC (yes I went there) of the original?

And my answer is...sort of.

Kind of like seeing a magic show for the 2nd time, the spark of originality and wonderment was mostly missing this time around, consequently NOW YOU SEE ME 2 turned into a fairly standard crime/action caper - but with magic instead of guns, cars or fights.

All that said, I was still entertained by this film, but that enjoyment was filled with an undercurrent of disappointment as I wanted to by "wowed" like I was with the first film.

The script - written by Ed Solomon, one of the writers of the original, struck me as a "job script", that is, a script written for money from the studio vs. a "passion script" where the author has an idea they are passionate about and that passion is shown on the screen. Add to that the fact that Jon M.Chu - director of GI JOE: RETALIATION (not exactly CITIZEN KANE) - helmed this film and you have a movie that feels professional, competent and workman-like.

What saves this movie is the performances. Three of the horsemen are back (Isla Fisher had to bow out due to a pregnancy) and the bi- play and the interaction between Eisenberg, Harrelson and Franco fits like an old glove. They get to interact with Ruffalo more in this film and that's a plus. Freeman and Caine return and are as dependable as ever and newcomers Daniel Radcliffe, Tsai Chin and (especially) Jay Chou were fun. Only Lizzy Caplan's Lula didn't really work for me - I thought she was trying to hard to fill in for Fisher.

Interestingly enough, I could shake the feeling, as I was watching this film, that I was watching the 2nd chapter in a trilogy, even though this one did NOT end in a cliffhanger. Sure enough, upon further review, NOW YOU SEE ME 3 is currently filming.

All in all, I enjoyed this film, I just wish I could have been surprised more, like I was in the first film.

7 (out of 10) stars and you can take that to the Bank (of Marquis)