Now You See Me 2 (9/6/2016)

Rated PG-13 for violence and some language.

Starring Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Dave Franco, Lizzy Caplan, Daniel Radcliffe, Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine

Directed by John Chu (Jem and the Holograms and G.I. Joe: Retaliation)

Unfortunately, there is not a lot of magic in this squeal.

The Four Horsemen (Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Lizzy Caplan) return for a second mind-bending adventure, elevating the limits of stage illusion to new heights and taking them around the globe. One year after outwitting the FBI and winning the public’s adulation with their Robin Hood-style magic spectacles, the illusionists resurface for a comeback performance in hopes of exposing the unethical practices of a tech magnate. The man behind their vanishing act is none other than Walter Mabry (Daniel Radcliffe), a tech prodigy who threatens The Horsemen into pulling off their most impossible heist yet. Their only hope is to perform one last unprecedented stunt to clear their names and reveal the mastermind behind it all.

The first movie was clever, fun and cool, this one took a step further…in the wrong direction. Now You See Me 2 is silly and preposterous. The most preposterous scene involves The Four Horsemen trying to smuggle a valuable computer chip out of a secret facility. Suddenly suspicious, their escort orders the guards to search them. The slender chip is attached to a playing card, which The Horsemen attempt to conceal through sleight-of-hand tricks amongst themselves. As the pat-down continues, the magicians’ moves grow more elaborate. After a few minutes, the card is flying around the room in defiance of all known physical laws—from one Horseman’s hand, to the bottom of another’s shoe, up through another Horseman’s sleeve, down a pant leg, under a collar, into a bra, and so on. It’s just silly.

Maybe you are not a fan of magic, but for those who are, it is supposed to inspire wonder, even if the audience knows it’s all smoke and mirrors. But there is very little mystery in this latest sequel. Which makes the 129-minute running time feel even longer.

While most of the original players are back, Now You See Me 2 has added Lizzy Caplan and Daniel Radcliffe. In my opinion they cancel each other out. Radcliffe is pretty decent but Caplan is magically annoying.

Speaking of annoying, they constantly break the fourth-wall with cheesy lines like “seeing is not believing” and “the eye can lie”…but when the eye sees a not great film…it’s a not great film.

The original film was guilty of much of the same cheese, but the plot was clever and fun. By the time Now You See Me 2 enters its final act, the audience is ready for the final curtain.

For the biggest Now You See Me fans, there may be enough to make the sequel worth seeing. For the rest of us, it’s worth seeing “Only If It’s Free.”

SHOULD KIDS SEE IT?
There is no sex or nudity, but there are several mild sexual references.

There are several chase scenes and a few scenes that include people get kicked, punched, beaten up, etc. In a comedic scene, a woman pretends to be a chef and pretends to fight with someone over who holds a sharp whirring razor blade, she ultimately drops it onto her arm and blood spurts everywhere briefly, and there is a lot of blood on her arm, this is later revealed to be fake, when she throws off her fake arm.

The is 1 F-word and handful of S-words.

CONVERSATION STARTER:

1. Why is Walter so mad at the Horsemen?


2. What does he do to them to try to get even?

Read 1 Peter 3:9

Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will grant you his blessing.


3. Instead of “getting even”, what can we do when others hurt us?