SPOILER-FREE MOVIE REVIEW
So here it is - the sequel to 2013's surprise-hit Now You See Me (wow, has it really been that long?).
Bringing back the same primary cast except for Lizzy Caplan's Lula (who replaces Isla Fisher due to the latter's pregnancy at the time of filming), the Horsemen face their toughest challenge yet when their trick goes wrong, leading them into a much bigger world of twists, turns and deceptions that they couldn't have possibly foreseen.
Now, I can't deny that I was super excited for this movie. I loved the first one so much because it was not just a breath of fresh air in terms of genre, but also a fun heist movie which involved more strategy and finesse instead of the typical all-guns-blazing action which typifies most heist films.
With a terrific cast of very talented actors and a mega twist at the end of the movie, I was completely sold.
Was the effect the same this time around though? Well, I can only describe it with one expression - "meh".
The movie starts off by developing Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo)'s character more, which is always a nice touch.
Along with the introduction of Lula as well as a refresher of the events of the first movie by none other than Morgan Freeman (who plays Thaddeus Bradley), a fantastic premise is developed which promised so much for this movie.
Whether the movie lived up to its great premise or not, I'll talk about that later. Let's talk about what I liked about it first.
Let's start with the cast, and yet again they show how well each and every one of the primary cast members (except for Daniel Radcliffe) worked with each other.
The chemistry and rapport between the Four Horsemen in particular was the best part of the movie.
J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson), Jack Wilder (Dave Franco) and Lula all worked superbly with each other. I liked how you could actually feel how genuine the relationships were between them, and how some struggle with their egos while others want more power. It's an excellent dynamic.
I also liked Mark Ruffalo's character even more in this one as he's more fleshed out and developed. It's the same for Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman) who was pretty cool.
I also liked how they upped the stakes for this one, making everything bigger - from the sets, to locations, magic tricks, stunts and so on.
The amount invested in making it a bigger movie really shows on-screen, and it made for a visually pleasing adventure.
On to what I didn't like, and there's plenty to talk about in this area.
Since I was just talking about the cast, I'll talk about the characters that I didn't like - the antagonists.
The antagonists in this movie were really underwhelming to say the least. You had Walter Mabry (Daniel Radcliffe) who was just a chatty little brat, Arthur Tressler (Michael Caine) who wasn't utilised enough, and the God-awful twin brother to Woody Harrelson's primary character, Chase McKinney.
For the latter, just what the hell were they thinking? The twin was so annoying, so out-of-place and just so damn weird. Whenever he appeared on screen, it took me out of the film completely because he was just so annoying. Was the character even necessary? I don't think so.
As for Daniel Radcliffe's inclusion in this movie, well, for publicity's sake, it's pure genius to cast Harry Potter himself in a modern magic heist movie.
For his character though... Well, Radcliffe's just not cut-out to be a villain is he? He's just so small and not-menacing. All he does is gloat, and chat shit and gloat even more. Something like the terrible waste of an actor like Christoph Waltz as Blofeld in SPECTRE.
The story was also extremely convoluted, especially as the movie headed into the 3/4 mark.
With one story arc dealing with Dylan Rhodes and Thaddeus Bradley and another involving the Horsemen, it just all seemed really dull to follow.
Both subplots weren't very interesting and despite the attempt to reclaim some of the audience's lost attention through an epic magic trick or stunt, it's not enough to sustain interest for long.
There were also just far too many twists in the plot that made the movie more and more predictable as it went on.
The thing about plot twists is that when they're done right, they have an amazing impact on the narrative of the film.
There has to be a balance between having too few plot twists and having too many. Now You See Me 2 had so many that you knew a twist was about to happen hence the element of surprise is gone.
These, along with the dull subplots greatly hinder the pacing of the film as it crawls along throughout the middle portion with boring expository scene after boring expository scene. At that point, I just wanted to see some cool magic, man.
And sure, we did get some cool tricks, but what makes them look cool on-screen is when the tricks are actually done by the actors or stand-ins and not by computer-generated effects.
That's exactly where Now You See Me 2 fell short.
Some tricks were just so extreme and ridiculous and so obviously full of CGI that it ruins all the suspense the trick was supposed to generate. It was really poor.
They end up being more of practical stunts than magic tricks, which was just wrong because these guys are magicians at heart.
And can I just talk about the camera work during the action scenes oh my goodness, I hate shaky cam so much.
Every action sequence in the movie had so much unnecessary shaky cam which made me confused as heck instead of making me excited. It gave me headaches, I tell ya.
Plus, if you've seen the trailer, you may think some of those tricks look cool and all but boy, they're so fake no thanks to the CGI.
By the end of the movie, I just felt that we were led on a wild goose chase all for nothing in the end.
The movie went this way and then the other, and as the twists piled up and the predictability started kicking in, I reached a point where I just wanted the movie to end already.
All in all, Now You See Me 2 is a poor follow-up to the fun and coolness of the first movie. It lacks the same "OHHHH SNAPPPP"-kind of twist at the end of the movie as compared to the excellent twist in the first one.
Together with the camera work of an ape and a script which felt as if it was written in a day, the movie is just so disappointing.
If they're going to make these movies into a franchise then they'd better make the third one bloody good, or else I think I may be done with these movies.
This is one for the family, folks. Don't bother going alone cos you'll be bored as hell.
Meh.
5/10.
I also liked how they upped the stakes for this one, making everything bigger - from the sets, to locations, magic tricks, stunts and so on.
The amount invested in making it a bigger movie really shows on-screen, and it made for a visually pleasing adventure.
On to what I didn't like, and there's plenty to talk about in this area.
Since I was just talking about the cast, I'll talk about the characters that I didn't like - the antagonists.
The antagonists in this movie were really underwhelming to say the least. You had Walter Mabry (Daniel Radcliffe) who was just a chatty little brat, Arthur Tressler (Michael Caine) who wasn't utilised enough, and the God-awful twin brother to Woody Harrelson's primary character, Chase McKinney.
For the latter, just what the hell were they thinking? The twin was so annoying, so out-of-place and just so damn weird. Whenever he appeared on screen, it took me out of the film completely because he was just so annoying. Was the character even necessary? I don't think so.
As for Daniel Radcliffe's inclusion in this movie, well, for publicity's sake, it's pure genius to cast Harry Potter himself in a modern magic heist movie.
For his character though... Well, Radcliffe's just not cut-out to be a villain is he? He's just so small and not-menacing. All he does is gloat, and chat shit and gloat even more. Something like the terrible waste of an actor like Christoph Waltz as Blofeld in SPECTRE.
The story was also extremely convoluted, especially as the movie headed into the 3/4 mark.
With one story arc dealing with Dylan Rhodes and Thaddeus Bradley and another involving the Horsemen, it just all seemed really dull to follow.
Both subplots weren't very interesting and despite the attempt to reclaim some of the audience's lost attention through an epic magic trick or stunt, it's not enough to sustain interest for long.
There were also just far too many twists in the plot that made the movie more and more predictable as it went on.
The thing about plot twists is that when they're done right, they have an amazing impact on the narrative of the film.
There has to be a balance between having too few plot twists and having too many. Now You See Me 2 had so many that you knew a twist was about to happen hence the element of surprise is gone.
These, along with the dull subplots greatly hinder the pacing of the film as it crawls along throughout the middle portion with boring expository scene after boring expository scene. At that point, I just wanted to see some cool magic, man.
And sure, we did get some cool tricks, but what makes them look cool on-screen is when the tricks are actually done by the actors or stand-ins and not by computer-generated effects.
That's exactly where Now You See Me 2 fell short.
Some tricks were just so extreme and ridiculous and so obviously full of CGI that it ruins all the suspense the trick was supposed to generate. It was really poor.
They end up being more of practical stunts than magic tricks, which was just wrong because these guys are magicians at heart.
And can I just talk about the camera work during the action scenes oh my goodness, I hate shaky cam so much.
Every action sequence in the movie had so much unnecessary shaky cam which made me confused as heck instead of making me excited. It gave me headaches, I tell ya.
Plus, if you've seen the trailer, you may think some of those tricks look cool and all but boy, they're so fake no thanks to the CGI.
By the end of the movie, I just felt that we were led on a wild goose chase all for nothing in the end.
The movie went this way and then the other, and as the twists piled up and the predictability started kicking in, I reached a point where I just wanted the movie to end already.
All in all, Now You See Me 2 is a poor follow-up to the fun and coolness of the first movie. It lacks the same "OHHHH SNAPPPP"-kind of twist at the end of the movie as compared to the excellent twist in the first one.
Together with the camera work of an ape and a script which felt as if it was written in a day, the movie is just so disappointing.
If they're going to make these movies into a franchise then they'd better make the third one bloody good, or else I think I may be done with these movies.
This is one for the family, folks. Don't bother going alone cos you'll be bored as hell.
Meh.
5/10.
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