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Now You See Me 2 (2016), PG-13, ★★

The Four Horsemen with Daniel Radcliffe.
Um...ok...another sequel...another needless sequel. The first movie had some cool things going for it with some fun and chemistry amongst the four main characters. The third act was the portion that let me down because it did not make sense, unsatisfying and was a bit pretentious. At the time, I thought it was a decent cable movie and I still stand by that. However, surprisingly there were fans of the original film that had a good time but I think it's not as huge of a fanbase as I thought because it was a real sleeper hit. For example, earlier in the year, we had My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, another needless sequel that was cartoonish and in another universe. The first movie was a huge success because it was relatable to many people in the audience as viewers have very big families. With this one, people likes to look at style. However, I felt there's so much convenience and coincidence in both the storyline and the style that the movie becomes more of a "superhero-like" type of fantasy than a suspenseful movie about magic.

The Horsemen have been hiding out a year since their last heist. Danny (Jesse Eisenberg) is sick of hiding out and not making progress over the year, in which a voice claiming to be the Eye says that everything's going to change for the better. Dylan (Mark Ruffalo) is still playing out his own act as an agent and has newly appointed agent Natalie Austin (Sanaa Lathan) and senior agent Cowan (David Warshofsky) following him as he picked up a trail, but they think he is full of crap.

Danny is summoned to meet with the rest of the Horsemen, Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson) and Jack Wilder (Dave Franco), as they are practicing cards. Danny met Lula (Lizzy Caplan) as she appears in his apartment earlier and telling him what she knows about the Horsemen. She is cunning and talented as she knows how to use magic. Dylan and Lula meet the three of them as they plan to sabotage a launch for the tech program Octa, and to expose the company's CEO, Owen Case (Ben Lamb), for being a fraud and taking information away from the consumers.

Later on, they meet with Walter (Daniel Radcliffe) as the Horsemen are being tricked into going to Macau, which was beyond comprehension for me because I thought that was a bit contrived as to how they are setting up the trick in the middle of their operation. Walter states that he wants the Horsemen to pull off another heist to help him and Owen expose a lot of information of many people. Ok, count them in, I guess.

Michael Caine is back. 
The film's magic fizzles as the heist does not become palpable because most of the magic in this movie is accompanied by special effects. It is a bit silly because we probably know that a normal illusionist or magician cannot pull this off in real life. I would rather see the characters have a bit more fun with its stakes but the filmmakers and writers interfere with that fun with riddled plot holes and magic acts that are cartoonish and not as mentally challenging as it would've produced. They over stage the magic heavily that the magicians take so much time to explain how it will be set up. Unfortunately, the payoff is a bit worse than the setup.

Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco and Lizzy Caplan all have good chemistry and they look like they have fun. But, the movie feels like an inside joke and the characters have way too much fun and the audience becomes isolated from the whole experience. I still cannot buy Mark Ruffalo as the lead magician as he still is a bit stiff and the chemistry between him and Laurent cannot be topped from him and Lathan. Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine still deliver the best performances they can and they're still fine. Daniel Radcliffe has a bit of fun with his character as he is familiar with the theme of magic but I did not find as much menace in his character as the villain.

There's so much going on with a few overbearing subplots and backstories that interfere with the main cartoonish plot of the movie that it seemed irrelevant. This movie is as frustrating as it is magically special because the magic is blown out of the wind. I admit I was involved in this subplot but the suspension of disbelief got caught up with me and after the movie was over, I got a little bit angry by the tendencies that the filmmakers and writers upped the ante on its magical special effects that it got plain silly. There's some good performances and a few times that you want to consider this movie a guilty pleasure, but again, in 2016, we have another forgettable sequel. It's going to disappear in my mind like David Copperfield.

**


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