Friday, 2 September 2016

Now You See Me 2 (2016)

Genre

Comedy | Crime | Thriller

Director

Jon M. Chu

Country

USA

Cast

Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Lizzy Caplan, Daniel Radcliffe, Morgan Freeman, Jay Chou, Sanaa Lathan, Michael Caine, Henry Lloyd-Hughes, Ben Lamb, David Warshofsky, Tsai Chin, Richard Laing

Storyline

One year after outwitting the FBI, The Four Horsemen resurface and  are forcibly recruited by a tech genius (Daniel Radcliffe) to pull off their most impossible heist yet.

Opinion

Since "Now You See Me" was very entertaining yet substanceless, I wasn't expecting anything different from this. And to be honest, that's all I wanted. Just to have a good time. Unfortunately Jon M. Chu wasn't able to give me that.

"Now You See Me 2" is pretty much like the previous film, but its complete lack of magic makes it dull, and awfully disappointing.

The plot feels forced and is quite predictable since the very beginning, and while the first film managed to be quite believable or at least to capture and trick the audience with its magic, this film is completely unbelievable. So unbelievable it's magical, but in a Harry Potter kind of way, and this is supposed to be an illusionism movie, not a fantasy.

But let's move onto the other flaws. In addition to dry and unnecessary dialogues, the film also feature new, terrible characters. The new Horseman, played by Lizzy Caplan, tries too hard to be liked, and adds even more silliness and slapstick to the film. The villain, played by Daniel Radcliffe because for some reason villains must have a British accent, is quite pathetic. And I'm still not getting the point of introducing Woody Harrelson's evil, identical twin brother.

The jokes fall flat most of the time, and even though they were okay, the magic tricks are completely ruined and thus made boring by the excessive use of special effects. And it's so obvious they are computer generated.

But at least the acting isn't that bad. Woody Harrelson and Morgan Freeman do a quite good job reprising their roles, and Daniel Radcliffe manages to give a decent performance which is a lot considering the shitty role he had to play. Worst of them all? Lizzy Caplan.

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