Review: Now You See Me 2 (2016)

After dazzling the world with their grandstanding illusions and heists and disappearing from the world stage in 2013’s Now You See Me, the Four Horsemen (Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, and Lizzy Caplan replacing Isla Fisher) now find themselves in hiding in Now You See Me 2 and waiting for the illusive cabal of magicians known as the Eye to show them the path back to the spotlight. However, when the team finally does plan their elaborate comeback with the help of their secret ringleader, FBI Agent Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo), their showcase is disrupted by a reclusive tech billionaire, Walter Mabry (Daniel Radcliffe), who kidnaps the team and tasks them with stealing a revolutionary microchip that’d allow him access to every computer network on the planet. The Horseman have no choice but to accept Mabry’s ultimatum if they want to stay alive, but Mabry isn’t what he seems and the Horsemen know that their old methods of deception and illusion may be their only chance of salvation.

Now You See Me was an unexpected delight back in 2013. Thoroughly ridiculously, with enough gaping plot holes to fuel the dunderheaded nitpickers of the Internet for a thousand years, Louis Leterrier’s improbable blockbuster balanced the wit and charm of a good caper with the manipulative narrative magic of classic magician films like Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige. The film was no classic in its own right. It could even qualify as dumb. But it was also a blast: a super silly concoction of elaborate feats and hyperactive filmmaking that dazzled the viewer even as it was cheating him or her with its impossible narrative conceits. Now You See Me 2 does not prove to be the unexpected delight that the first film was, but it’s still a ludicrous blast, nothing but appealing fluff from start to finish. It plays to the part of the brain that adores the impossible at the expense of taste or logic.

If this sequel cannot contend with the joyous stupidity of the first film’s final twist (which reveals Ruffalo’s antagonistic FBI agent as the mastermind behind all the Horsemen’s tricks), it makes up for its lack of ambition with goodhearted showmanship. Like its illusionist heroes, Now You See Me 2 is only interested in putting on a good show. It’s all spectacle. Aside from some cursory remarks about online privacy and teamwork, the film has zero thematic heft. Its performances aren’t trying for emotional depth, although Ruffalo makes the most of his character’s weak melodramatic drive. The film is about dazzle and showmanship. Like stage magic, it’s nothing but trickery meant as entertainment. 

Visually, the film is a bit of a downgrade from the first, where Leterrier’s camera and editing kept a furious momentum. Director Jon M. Chu isn’t quite the vulgar stylist that Leterrier is, but what he lacks in panache, he makes up for with earnestness. While Now You See Me occasionally felt manipulative, Now You See Me 2 never feels cheap. It’s foregrounds the fact that its narrative is an illusion, and delights in anticipating the ways viewers will work to figure out the secrets of its narrative before the big reveal. As well, it’s villain is an upgrade from the first. While Michael Caine was mostly sleepwalking through his work in the original (and even shows up here to secure a nice paycheck), Daniel Radcliffe is delightful as the spritely Mabry, whose first appearance, bare-footed, bearded, and grinning from ear-to-ear in a Macau hotel, plays like gangbusters. Radcliffe has developed into an extremely charismatic performer, and Chu leverages every iota of Radcliffe’s charm to compensate for his character’s nonexistent motivations. Mabry might not be a villain for the ages, but his every appearance in Now You See Me 2 enhances the film.

Now You See Me 2 will not prove to be the biggest blockbuster of the summer, nor the most essential. But it’s proof that Hollywood is still capable of making broad, silly entertainment that actually provides the four-quadrant fun promised in its marketing.

6 out of 10

Now You See Me 2 (2016, USA)

Directed by John M. Chu; written by Ed Solomon, based on a story by Solomon and Peter Chiarelli; starring Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Daniel Radcliffe, Lizzy Caplan, Jay Chou, Sanaa Lathan, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman.

This review was originally published on the now-defunct Toronto Film Scene.