Review of Now You See Me 2 (2016) by Filipeneto — 16 Oct 2020

There are several films about the world of magic and illusionism available, and many are great. This film is just one more, and it followed one of the best, to reveal itself as one of the worst.

The story is simple: after the events of the first film, the Horsemen separate and wait for instructions from the Eye. However, if some get tired and give up, others insist. Finally, they are summoned to expose the secrets of a new technological application but everything goes wrong: exposed to the world, they flee and end up in Macau, where they will have to find out who is the person who betrayed them.

What can I say about this film? That many of the most interesting and entertaining features of the first film have simply disappeared. Director Jon M. Chu was able to reveal himself to be a nullity by making a hasty film, full of unrealistic and imaginative situations, as well as clichés like the evil twin or the illegitimate son who wants to please his father. Even as a piece of entertainment, this film is quite weak and unable to honor its predecessor.

The cast is inherited from the previous film, with few modifications, but they are at a distance from giving us a good job because they weren't entitled to some decent material. So, we have again Jesse Eisenberg, more arrogant than in the first film, James Franco and Woody Harrelson, who will also give life to his character's presumptuous twin brother (a stupid script option, at the very least). Mark Ruffalo, Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine also returned to their characters, and I would say that they are the best actors here. The problem is that they could not do anything to improve the film given that they did not have much visibility (Freeman and Ruffalo, who appear only when necessary, are really underused sometimes). The exit of Isla Fisher (quite intelligent given that she saved herself from a film that would not add anything good to her career) was filled by the entrance of Lizzy Caplan, as a fun character that makes you smile, adding moments of spontaneity and irreverence to a film that, without it, would be more boring. The villain was incarnated by Daniel Radcliffe, but he looks like a cynical caricature, and I was never able to take him seriously.

Technically, it's a fairly regular film: on the positive side, I would highlight cinematography, with a good work of light and color, enhanced by the authentic color of the streets of Macau, a former Portuguese colony in China where much of the film takes place. The sets and costumes are good enough and there is some realism and verisimilitude in CGI and in visual and sound effects. The soundtrack, it seemed to me, is inherited from the previous film with few modifications.