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'Now You See Me 2' - Movie Review

Updated on: 17 June,2016 05:04 PM IST  | 
Johnson Thomas | mailbag@mid-day.com

The four Horsemen, underground magicians from 2013's surprise hit 'Now You See Me' based on a story by Ed Solomon and Pete Chiarelli, resurface in this the second out of the three planned sequels, as members of an exclusive ancient egyptian magicians club called the 'Eye' with it's entrance located in a magical carousel in Central Park

'Now You See Me 2' - Movie Review

'Now You See Me 2'
Director: Jon M Chu
Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Lizzy Caplan, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Daniel Radcliffe
Rating: 



The four Horsemen, underground magicians from 2013's surprise hit 'Now You See Me' based on a story by Ed Solomon and Pete Chiarelli, resurface in this the second out of the three planned sequels, as members of an exclusive ancient egyptian magicians club called the 'Eye' with it's entrance located in a magical carousel in Central Park.


This is basically the second installment of a planned trilogy. The newly initiated members of the ‘Eye’, J. Daniel Atlas( Eisenberg) , mentalist Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson) and card sharp Jack Wilder (Dave Franco) since underground, have now been recalled after a time by new leader, C I A agent Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) and they also add on a replacement Lula (Lizzy Caplan). Rhodes, the mastermind behind the first film’s scheme to avenge his late father gets outed at CIA headquarters while the rest get duped into pulling off a heist that is actually a trap set up by Walter Mabry (Radcliffe) with supposed help from Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and a evil twin. Of course things are not what they seem.

This is a film about magical abilities that depends heavily on CGI and special effects. While the ensuing magic related sequences look flashy and astound the mind for a bit, the feel of it is definitely not there. One is conscious of the heavy dependence of effects here. Atlas stopping rain in front of a huge crowd is all about camera placement and it becomes obvious when the explanation given includes strobe lights and a rain machine. The same goes ith most of the magic tricks on display here. The four horsemen move at the speed of lightning from one place to another without any time reference to give the viewer his bearings. Everything looks lush but unbelievable for most of it. And the smart-Alec conversations are the pits. They weigh down the narrative and make the ensuing mayhem look laden and heavy weathered.

Also the actors, despite the presence of stalwarts like Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman fail to come up with anything new that’s worth of celebrating. The storyline is also way too outlandish to keep you interested for long. Cinematography and music do their bit to keep things looking good but a few minutes into the movie and you start feeling distracted. It’s really not one of those attention grabbing experiences you would expect. Even re-runs of David Copperfield on TV would be more entertaining!

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