Now You See Me 2 (2016) Movie Review

Now You See Me 2 (2016)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Now You See Me 2 (2016)

Harry Potter and the Eye of the Four Horsemen

It's been a while since the horsemen exposed and humiliated Arthur Tressler (Michael Caine - Inception) and not only have they had to lay low but for Daniel (Jesse Eisenberg - The Social Network) he has had to deal with being bossed about by Dylan (Mark Ruffalo - Foxcatcher), not easy considering his big ego. It is why he goes looking for the Eye and before long the horsemen, along with new recruit Lula (Lizzy Caplan - Hot Tub Time Machine), are pulling off a new gig to take down the owner of a high tech company. But all is not as it seems and Dylan finds himself having to deal with some revelations surrounding his late father whilst also having to deal with some faces from the past.

As a follow up to "Now You See Me", "Now You See Me 2" delivers everything you expect with a storyline which builds nicely on what was established in the first movie. As such we know that Dylan's father died in a magic trick which went wrong and he blames Thaddeus for this. We also know that Daniel Atlas has an ego and so you can understand he struggles with being bossed about by Dylan. Basically the story builds quite nicely out of the first movie and it isn't much of a spoiler when I say that the storyline once again involves Michael Caine's character Arthur Tressler although there is also a character by the name of Walter, played by Daniel Radcliffe, thrown in to the mix.

But whilst the story to "Now You See Me 2" evolves nicely and throws some twists in to the mix the real power of the movie is in the way the horsemen go about doing what they do best, the art of distraction. And as such there is that aspect to the movie where we try to work out what is going on and what we might not be seeing as we watch. But here is the thing; there are times when the ability of these horsemen to pull off quick changes and prestidigitation is so outrageous and fake looking that it actually spoils things. Yes I know these were done to deliver that slick visual style but for me it was one step too far.

What this all boils down to is that "Now You See Me 2" delivers plenty of entertainment with fun characters, special effects and a decent storyline which builds on the characters. But for me there is a side to it where in trying to be even more visually spectacular than the first movie it ends up too over the top.


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