Now You See Me 2

In the case of all movies, especially one such as this, the director acts as magician and the film audience is being entertained/fooled as they watch. If the audience can foresee what is coming, then the movie is a failure. The audience is allowed to guess the plot but you still have to create doubt in their hearts, even if the audience is right on their hunch. "Now You See Me" pulled this off quite well but for the sequel, cinematic elements were changed that shouldn't have been changed. Also, elements that the filmmakers should have been changed weren't and originality was lost. "Now You See Me 2" wasn't awful; it just had a few too many flaws.

When you make a sequel to a film like "Now You See Me", you have to do something different so as to once again be ahead of the audience as you tell the story. Firstly, "Now You See Me 2" had a story pattern that was similar to the first movie and we therefore could anticipate the upcoming plot points. We know now that the Horsemen are not criminal magicians but rather entertainers who expose wealthy criminals. This was an enjoyable part of the plot of the first movie that revealed itself over the course of the whole story and nothing was invented to replace it in the sequel. Besides that, was this sequel even needed? Any successful movie has a story that is good enough that it just demands to be told. I am not sure if a sequel to "Now You See Me" gave off the needed motivation for the filmmakers to fully succeed. The first movie was a little fast-paced which made it a good show instead of great. The second movie was also fast in some places and I couldn't hear some of the dialogue in some scenes. It is obvious that a sequel was not on the minds of the filmmakers when they made the first movie. Thus, the twists in this second movie that changed how we see the events of the original film felt forced upon us. Because the plotline was like unto the first movie, the climax was predictable. We are looking for the twist and the surprise reveal as our characters are on the plane so when the twist happens, most of us I would wager saw it coming. The first movie had a much better surprise ending the last time because of Mark Ruffalo's performance. There were some parts of "Now You See Me 2" that I liked. I got a kick out of the quick pun of Owen Case still repeating Merritt's words even as Merritt is screaming. I felt that the decision to have the Horseman go international was a good one too.

There were a few problems with the casting as well. Woody Harrelson did a great job at playing different two characters but the idea in the first place to have him play Chase wasn't good. It worked in "The Social Network" because Armie Hammer was an unknown at the time but Harrelson is famous enough that this casting choice was more distracting than entertaining. The biggest mistake with the casting came from the problem that Isla Fisher could not reprise her role because she was pregnant. This new character, Lula, was annoying. I first saw Lizzy Caplan in "Cloverfield" and she did well in that movie. In hindsight, her performance in "Now You See Me 2" is a lot different from that on "Cloverfield" so that is noteworthy. That however did not justify her character's annoying nature. If the Eye were going to replace Henley, they probably would have chosen someone more similar to her. This plot point of Henley leaving the Eye also felt forced. Why couldn't the filmmakers simply recast the character of Henley? It worked well enough for Rhodey in "Iron Man 2" and it worked for Rachel in "The Dark Knight". It wasn't until weeks after I saw the trailer for "Now You See Me 2" that I finally got the joke of having Daniel Radcliffe in this show. I don't think he is good at playing villains however. As a few sides notes, I know Sanaa Lathan from TV and this was fifth film that Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine had been in together (going on six).

Another factor that probably had a negative effect on this sequel was the change in director. Louis Leterrier is still an executive producer on this film along with Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman but Boaz Yakin was not involved at all (I did notice David Copperfield's name as a co-producer). As I said at the start, the filmmakers made changes in the wrong places and didn't make the changes they should have. I was able to predict a few plot twists and plot points so that made it hard for me to enjoy "Now You See Me 2". While most other people will enjoy this sequel, it lacks the originality that was enjoyed the first time around (this is a common problem with most sequels though). I hear word of a third film but I ask once again: Is this movie even needed?

3.5 Stars