Directed by : Jon M. Chu
Written by : Ed Solomon
Starring : Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Lizzy Caplan, Morgan Freeman, Daniel Radcliffe
Release Date : June 2, 2016
As a heist movie mixed with magic, I figured that "Now You See Me 2" should be a relatively entertaining watch as I thought the previous installment was. I was apparently mostly wrong to think that. Despite the visual flair that Director Jon M. Chu was able to bring to the franchise, the movie has way too many flaws. It almost dares you to suspend your disbelief at the ridiculous plot developments of the story. It also doesn't help that the magic tricks just lack genuine excitement or interest. Plot and Magic are two important elements to master for this movie's premise, and it fails at both.
The whole story relies on us to be invested enough to want to see where the story is going. How are the characters going to pull off the heists? What magic tricks are they going to incorporate? Unfortunately, the answers given to those questions were just disappointing. There are many plot mechanics and resolutions that are just too ridiculous to feel any sort of satisfaction. The whole thing comes off so nonsensical, that the movie's only true trick was that it succeeded in convincing me to see it through to the end. I don't know how it managed that, because the final act and the conclusion was just beyond stupid.
If there is any upside to this film, it's the cast. I genuinely like this whole cast of actors, so it's unfortunate that the script by Ed Solomon doesn't really give them much to work with. Woody Harrelson at least seems to get to have fun in his dual roles, and Lizzy Caplan gets to bring her enjoyably manic energy into the ensemble. Daniel Radcliffe did show promise as the main villain, until the plot eventually undermines the potential of his character. The movie's characters really are just there to serve the plot, and it wouldn't be too bad if it wasn't for the fact that I didn't care for the plot all that much.
I'm just so disappointed with how "Now You See Me 2" turned out, as I was at least hoping for it to be a guilty pleasure like the previous one was. What's worse is that the movie thinks it's pretty clever, but in reality it's just dumb.
loveditenjoyedititsokayitsmeh IT'S TERRIBLE
