Now you see me 2 - a (short) review

The four horsemen are called back together to steal an important MacGuffin. In the end they manage to make all the villains look like fools.
 

Yes, sorry, that’s about it.
This movie was written in crayons.

Sequels are tricky. Should you do more of the same? Or do you create something different? Now, Now you see me 1 was a fun movie with a few faults. Now you see me 2 is a fun film with even more faults.

Too many characters

I guess that the main problem with this film is the tremendous amount of characters. Way, way, way  too many. Even though I love Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman to bits, they are actually rather useless in this one. The same goes for the FBI subplot. And the movie even managed to put in a double-role for one of main characters which is actually rather annoying to watch (almost on the same level as Kevin Kline's duo role in Fierce Creatures). Throw all those characters out and you would have a far stronger film (and I still believe the horsemen are one man/woman/horse too many).

Daniel Radcliff is the baddie in this one and he's great at it. When he has his moment to shine that is. Unfortunately so many actors have to take center stage at one point that he slides back to the background a bit too often to let the others do their thing. Why didn't this movie just go with one villain instead of three, four? I lost count. Just one baddie -Radcliff- that would have been enough.

I did love the trick though that Radcliff's bad guy is a technology junkie with a disdain for magic. It's brought rather subtle. Every review writer picks up on it, no problem. But it's not like the movie is making a big show it.

CGI magic

The biggest fault of the first movie was that the magic tricks pulled were all CGI. In this movie they slightly explain it a bit more and seep in some reality of actually pulling it off. Yes, handcuffs still go off in a yippy but that's fine. At least the movie puts in some effort to make the magic look real.

However, some of the tricks near the end are so unbelievably complex and grandiose that it is actually quite hard to believe that a capable magician could pull it off in a crowd. Isn’t there a way to keep the tricks more grounded? To make me believe that, at least, I’m dealing with illusionists instead of actors pretending to be magicians.

And that’s all even before all that hypnostuff happens. It didn't work in the first one and it sure doesn't work here. Moving on.

Directing

The directing isn't very good. Every action sequence -including a brilliant one for Mark Ruffalo- is shot terribly. You can actually see the ideas concocted for this fight but somehow the camera doesn't manage to capture it. It really is a shame because; well, just imagine the concept of an illusionist fighting some baddies. There are tons of tricks he could pull. Yet the camera mucks them up every single time.

The story – oh dear.

That whole MacGuffin I mentioned above is a chip. They should have lost that plot point ages ago. Like somebody had an abandoned script somewhere and used that plot-element to fill a hole in this one. Then the story suddenly becomes about revenge. But, ‘ha-ha’ the horsemen knew about it.

The movie feels like several scripts put in a blender and tossed around the room. Coherency is far gone on this one. And that’s the problem. Like the fight scene or Radcliffe’s baddie or even those ‘larger than life’-magic tricks you can see the potential behind it. You can see the ideas. It makes it a very frustrating movie to watch.

Then there's the final twist. Well, anybody with half a brain could see how it was done. I'll give you credit if you didn't incorporate the hypnostuff because I tend to ignore that. But then again if the movie is good that shouldn't bother anyone

Unfortunately the movie isn't very good. It steals blatantly from Christopher Nolan and Spike Lee. Then there are the various errors. Suddenly a beard after a car drive. Appearing and disappearing coloring on the nose. I mean, if I spot the mistakes they have to be pretty obvious (and I checked, I'm not the only one who noticed).

Conclusion – please reboot.

Now you see me 2 is a lazy attempt at a good movie that is still fun, no worries there. But the movie could have been so much better. If you wish to reboot the franchise in a few years time this is what I think you should do:

• The horsemen help de weak - not the entire world, just the weak (keep it tangible).
• Lose one horseman, lose various characters. If the franchise goes on characters will be added anyway (look at the fast and the furious-franchise; how many big players does it have now?)
• Lose the hypno-mumbojumbo. If hypnotism is that fast and easy everybody would be doing it.
• Keep the tricks possible. You may enhance them a bit with CGI but don't overdo it.
• Keep the plot simple. Basically the movie is a detective novel. In the end we'll hear how they did it.
• And for crying out loud: lose the hypno-stuff. Did I mention that already?