Review: ‘Now You See Me 2’ isn’t as good as the original, but it’s still a fun show

Posted on June 17, 2016

By MARK VIOLA

Every once in awhile, a movie will simply surprise me. That was the case with 2013’s “Now You See Me,” directed by Louis Leterrier and starring Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher and Dave Franco as four magicians who are recruited by a mysterious figure to become the Four Horsemen and pull off the greatest tricks in history, and maybe commit a few felonies along the way.

While on the surface it looked like the thriller would be pretty standard fare, it was actually a lot of fun, with a quick pace and a story featuring plenty of twists and turns as the audience was left trying to figure out just want the end game is to the magicians’ long con. The stellar cast also included Morgan Freeman as a professional skeptic, Michael Caine as the Horsemen’s financial backer and Mark Ruffalo as the FBI agent tasked with bringing them to justice.

As an obvious fan of the first one, I was looking forward to the sequel, which brings back the one of the screenwriters and almost the entire cast, with the notable exception of Isla Fisher. The biggest change, however, was in the director’s chair, with Jon M. Chu, who replaces Leterrier. He has given us two Justin Bieber concert movies as well as “G.I. Joe: Retaliation” and “Jem and the Holograms,” and his rather spotty track record was my biggest concern going into this new movie.

And the result? “Now You See Me 2” is definitely not as good as the first film, but I still found myself having fun through much of its run. There are problems, both with some of the new characters as well as the film’s overall pacing, but the story does manage to maintain a solid level of tension as we are once again left wondering just who is being played and who will be left holding the winning hand at the end. As I feared, Chu does put his stamp on the production, and frankly I’m not a fan of that stamp. But I do have to give him credit for giving us an enjoyable movie that’s worth seeing if you had fun with the first film.

The film is rated PG-13 for violence and some language.

(This is a abbreviated version of the full review available in our printed or e-edition papers.)

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