Everyone has that cousin that is a little too into magic and wants to pull out his card tricks at every family gathering….This movie was made for him.
The sequel to the surprising hit Now You See Me brings us back to the 4 Horseman as they attempt their largest heist yet. I really enjoyed the first movie so I was looking forward to see how they were going to expand the story of these bank robbing magicians. The 4 Horsemen have been in hiding for a full year after outwitting and escaping the FBI. Since their last big heist the world is eager to see their comeback performance, but a new villain emerges to blackmail the Horsemen into pulling off their most impossible heist yet.
It may be no surprise but this sequel was not as good as the original, that being said, this film still has a lot of fun moments. The original was a nice spin on the Ocean’s 11 style heist movie, where the 4 Horseman used sleight of hand to pull off unbelievable stunts. In this film they push the “real” magic elements which look cool, but lack the fun and interesting explanations of how they got out of the impossible situations. The characters are still very interesting and play well off of each other; but losing Isla Fisher’s character and Woody Harrelson having to also play his twin brother, overly complicated the plot and became a little annoying. The story also wasn’t very compelling. The magic took away from the real life stakes of the first film, and the situations never felt as dire because I expected them to get away.
Now you see me 2 isn’t as good as the first film but it does still have some fun elements. If you enjoyed the first film, I think that this is worth watching when it comes on TV or if you can rent it at home.
Overall Rating 2.6 card tricks 5