Now You See Me 2

Dir: Jon M. Chu

2016

**

I’m not sure Now You See Me needed a sequel, Isla Fisher clearly thought the same, but it made money the first time round and that’s how Hollywood works. To be fair, Isla Fisher was pregnant at the time of filming so couldn’t commit but she hasn’t been asked back for Now You See Me 3, which just shows you that the film isn’t made out of love. The film isn’t an improvement on the first for various reasons, the main one being that we now know who the Four Horseman’s benefactor is – the big mystery of the original. The plot is almost exactly the same as the first except for who is pulling the strings but the big reveal won’t be a surprise to anyone, at least not those who are paying attention, something hard to do when the story is so horribly dull. I like magic but I don’t much like magicians. Now You See Me takes away all the skill of illusion and covers only that unique smugness that magic performers have. All of the magic in the film is CGI, which makes a huge chunk of the story almost redundant, indeed, the plot itself is an illusion. I like the cast but I hate the characters they portray. The smug arrogance actually suits Jesse Eisenberg, these films must be a walk in the park for him but I found Mark Ruffalo and certainly Woody Harrelson stooping to levels that are way beneath them. Dave Franco is okay and Lizzy Caplan was a nice addition to the cast but I thought it was rather lazy to have Michael Caine return as the main villain. However, the film’s biggest mistake was probably the inclusion of Daniel Radcliffe as the most unassuming bad guy ever in the history of bad guys. Sure, maybe the real villains of this day and age are people like the character Radcliffe portrays, that’s why James Bond is so rubbish these days, but seriously, he can’t act for toffee. Just because he starred in the lead role of one of the biggest (if not the biggest) franchises in the history of cinema, doesn’t mean he can act. In fact the opposite is true. I’m sure he’s a nice chap but seriously, he needs to step up, but then again he’s bankable, so he’s still working. I would hazard a guess that everyone who was in the first film was paid handsomely to return for the second, so many of them said they weren’t going to be in it, to later announce that they would. It’s not as if who would return was the talk of Hollywood, the first film received a luke-warm reception, frankly if you really liked it then you are easily pleased. Was money an issue this time round? Why else make Woody Harrelson play two characters (his original character and his twin brother)? I like Woody Harrelson a lot but the twin brother thing has been done to death – it’s not clever and it didn’t work here like it hasn’t worked in other films for a very long time. It felt like the likable actor was tasked with carrying the film somewhat and I wonder whether they knew Radcliffe as a bad guy was quite enough to seem quirky and fresh. If you’re serious about making a credible film, you don’t hire Jon M. Chu either. I’m not sure if I’ve made it clear but I thought very little of this sequel, if ever a film didn’t deserve a series then it is this one.