Now You See Me 2

Synopsis:  Eighteen months after outwitting the FBI and winning the public’s adulation with their Robin Hood-style magic spectacles, the internationally adored illusionists known as The Four Horsemen – J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson), Jack Wilder (Dave Franco), new recruit, Lula (Lizzy Caplan), and their leade, Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo)  - resurface for a comeback performance in the hope of exposing the unethical practices of tech guru, Walter Mabry (Daniel Radcliffe).

I’m not sure why we needed a sequel to 2012’s Now You See Me but it’s back with a whiff of franchise about it (apparently NYSM3 has already been announced) and the good news is that it’s no worse than its predecessor. But the bad news is that it’s no better. For the uninitiated, Now You See Me was a bit like the illegitimate child of Ocean’s Eleven (2001) and The Italian Job (2003) except that the thieves-with-good-intentions-and-hearts-of-gold behind the larger-than-life capers in these stories are also exceptional magicians.

It’s such a great idea (which is what I thought the first time around) that it makes it a real shame that its style of storytelling shows little respect for logic and next to no inclination for character development.  The story, as was the case with the first film, is a bit muddled and convoluted and relies, as all good magic does, on the smoke and mirrors of fast editing and Brian Tyler’s overwrought soundtrack to misdirect us away from the gaps in plausibility. The film begins with a bit of backstory from thirty years ago which kicks the film off on a highly emotional point that feels like it might turn out to have more significance than it actually does and the final shot which feels like it is going to answer a question the runs through both films turns out just to be a contrivance designed to tease us back into the cinema when the third instalment gets released.

But that’s not to say that NYSM2 doesn’t have its moments of enjoyment. It’s a good cast (which also includes return roles for Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine), its production values are high and it shoots in international locations such as New York, London and Macau. It also uses the device of backtracking through the key moments of diversion and sleight of hand to show us how the bigger tricks were done which, apart from breaking the cardinal rule of all magicians, is a lot of fun. But despite this, the disappointment (for me at least) is that it doesn’t really buy into the craft and mythology of magic. The magic acts both small and elaborate are so overproduced that it hardly matters whether what we’re seeing are genuine illusions or film tricks. It’s a shame, because with master magician and illusionist David Copperfield as a co-producer you might have expected the magic to have felt more genuine and astounding. What we’re left with is a bit of cinema fluff that serves as a mild, inoffensive distraction for just over two hours. I can’t say I’m holding my breath for NYSM3.

 

 

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