Now You See Me 2

Now You See Me 2

Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Morgan Freeman

Directed by Jon Chu

The Story:
After their daring heist over a year ago, the Four Horsemen - Danny (Jesse Eisenberg), Merritt (Woody Harrelson), Jack (Dave Franco) and newcomer Lula (Lizzy Caplan) are in hiding, while their leader, FBI Agent Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) helps them from the inside by sending the FBI on wild goose chases.  They're waiting orders from The Eye - the magician's secret underground society - for their next assignment.

This comes from Dylan, who informs the Horsemen that they're to stop a tech company who's designed a computer chip that can data-mine any computer in the world.  Their show-stopping antics, however, is thwarted and they find themselves at the mercy of Walter Mabry (Daniel Radcliffe), who wants the computer chip for himself, and forces the Horsemen to retrieve it.

While this is happening, Dylan is trying to locate the Horsemen, and is forced to turn to arch nemesis Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman) to find them.  Their history goes back way farther than originally thought, and both men are working the long con on the other.  Ultimately, old foes arise, new threats awaken, and the Horsemen find themselves in over their heads.

The Synopsis:
"Now You See Me" was a critical and crowd-pleasing surprise hit, amassing over $115 million dollars.  A rather impressive feat for a wholly unique tale not based off a book, superhero or previous film.  Could they just rest on the laurels of their surprise success and not take the traditional Hollywood route by releasing sequel after sequel until its a beaten dead horse on the road?

Of course not!  After all, there's money to be had!

Which, unfortunately, is the outcome of "Now You See Me 2," which abandoned the whole premise of the first film - the child-like power of magic - and turns it into an "Oceans" wannabe, with very little actual magic being done, and focusing on a story that would make Edward Snowden smile. 

This sequel has a give-and-take aspect with the first film.  It took away two important characters, the first being one of the original Horsemen in Isla Fisher's Henley, who couldn't commit to the sequel due to her pregnancy.  Instead, we're given newbie Lizzy Caplan as Lula, a more over-the-top character than Henley that sometimes borders on annoying, but has just enough charisma to squeak by.  At least they explained Henley's disappearance in the film, which is more than I can say for Dylan's old FBI partner, Alma Dray (Melanie Laurent), who's just disappeared without a trace or a mention.  In her place there's Sanaa Lathan as Deputy Director Natalie Austin, a criminally underused character.  Plus Daniel "Harry Potter" Radcliffe arrives as the main villain, yet turns out to be just a whiny loner with severe daddy issues.

The Horsemen are now Robin Hood-type antiheroes, on the run from the FBI (seriously, this whole sub-story could've been completely disregarded, as they only serve as how typical FBI agents serve in this type of film - totally inept people who are always three steps behind the villains.  If this is how the real FBI works, we're all in trouble), yet their egos yearn to be back on the stage. **Aside: I wondered the whole film why Lula was on the lamb with the Horsemen, as she had nothing to do with the original crime, yet she's just as wanted as they are.  Didn't get that.  Aside End**  Whereas the first film focused on the characters and their idiosyncrasies, here they're so interchangeable you forget who's who.  There's no deeper development, no further continuation of their life struggles, nothing - unless you count Merritt's side-story with his twin (which was never mentioned in the first film), or Lula's odd infatuation with Jack, both of which are never fully materialized.

The saving grace in the film comes with Mark Ruffalo and Morgan Freeman, who have their own twisted history (which, again, was never mentioned in the original).  It doesn't matter how terrible a film can be - when you have Morgan Freeman, it immediately ups the quality.  Their pas de deux was the most entertaining part of the film which, at its heart, is supposed to be about magic.  Yet, the only magic done is pulling the wool over the audiences' eyes, and making the first film completely disappear - or at least make it devoid of any meaning.

The only real magic is done with a card swap between the four that goes on far too long, plus some smaller acts near the end (the best of which is Danny's manipulation of rain), and the one final act.  This is one series that didn't call for an encore, and instead of mind-boggling magic, we're given the equivalent of pulling a rabbit out of a hat.

Earlier I referred this film to an "Oceans" movie, and I just realized it's got a lot of connections to "Oceans Twelve:"
-both are criminally worse than their originals
-both feature a shady criminal mastermind who manipulates our heroes (Andy Garcia for "Oceans," Daniel Radlciffe here)
-both feature similar characters:
  -the leader (George Clooney/Mark Ruffalo)
  -the wannabe leader (Brad Pitt/Jesse Eisenberg)
  -the humorous sidekick (Matt Damon/Woody Harrelson)
  -the femme fatale (Julia Roberts/Lizzy Caplan)
The only one I can't place is Dave Franco to the "Oceans" world, but I guess he could be a mixture of Scott Caan and Casey Affleck or something.

This should serve as a cautionary tale to any Hollywood surprise hit - if you weren't planning a sequel when the first film comes out and becomes a surprise hit, please keep to your plan.

The Summary:
"Now You See Me" was a magical tale that mind-freaked the audiences' minds.  The sequel showed that it had nowhere else to go, and ended up just mind-screwed the audiences' minds instead. 

The Score: B+