After a year spent in hiding evading the FBI, the Four Horsemen return to pulling elaborate magical heists, this time as part of the Eye and aided by Dylan Rhodes, who is still working from within the FBI.
Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg and Dave Franco all reprise their roles from the previous film, and are as fantastic and witty as ever. And whilst Isla Fisher doesn't return as Henley, she is replaced by Lizzy Caplan who plays the bubbly young magician Lula. She never truly manages to fill the void left by Fisher, but does provide wit, charm and morbid humour that definitely makes her a stand out cast member. These four actors play extremely well together, and as with the first film, the rapport between the Horsemen provides many amusing moments.Now You See Me 2 tries to be a lot funnier than the previous instalment, however this is often detrimental to the film as a whole. It seems to go out of it's way to be outrageous, with the characters performing magic tricks that are surely impossible and absolutely unbelievable. And then there's the case of Woody Harrelson also playing the role of Merritt's twin brother, a ridiculously flamboyant character who ends up being laughable. When Lula utters the words "I have no idea what's going on right now" I think she must have been speaking for the audience as well. But for all it's ridiculousness there really are some laughs to be had, and when it does deliver this film is really quite fun and enjoyable.
The greatest disappointment must be the wasted talents of Mark Ruffalo and Daniel Radcliffe. The introduction of Radcliffe's villain is promising and yet in the end he is not at all intimidating and doesn't leave a lasting impression. And Dylan Rhodes just seems to be stuck in a rut, still brooding over his father's death even though he's had his revenge. You'd think that after the big reveal at the end of the last film this would be an opportunity to see Rhodes perform some more magic tricks himself. But we actually see him do remarkably little. The unfortunate truth is that after the amazing twist ending of the original, the story just has nowhere else to go. Nowhere near as exciting as it's predecessor, but Now You See Me 2 manages to provide a few laughs, and the Horsemen are still brilliant. However this film is hardly magical and ultimately forgettable.
