Movie Review: Now You See Me: The Second Act

Wait what was this movie about again?

Now You See Me: The Second Act (2016): The Four Horsemen resurface and are forcibly recruited by a tech genius to pull off their most impossible heist yet.

Ugh. Gotta love corporate-mandated movies. You know, I actually kind of liked the first Now You See Me. Yes it was a mess of a film, but in terms of mindless popcorn flicks it was actually pretty good! Plus any film that brings Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson together again immediately gets points in my book. (Freaking LOVE Zombieland) Really this series as a whole is stacked with some of my favorite actors in the business, and when I heard they added Lizzy Caplan for the sequel I was STOKED. Lizzy Caplan cannot star in enough things nowadays, and she steals the show here. (Even though there is a very unnecessary love story between her and Dave Franco) But despite all the great actors....this film is an absolute dumpster-fire. Why? Because unlike the first film it tries to be more than what it actually is.

Usually I talk about the good first, but I will highlight the bad here because there's a lot of it. First off the overall tone of this film is entirely too heavy. Unlike the first one, which was very playful and fun, The Second Act tries to actually give gravitas to these giant tricks our heroes are doing and it simply just does not work. I could not get past the ridiculousness of this film because the film couldn't help but basically say "Oh look at that! Wasn't that amazing?" right after every trick. Then the film tried to explain everything. Ohhhhhhh boy when this film tries to reveal the curtain and explain everything it completely lost me and everyone else in the theater. Not only that, it even tried to set up a sequel (more so than the original one did at least) because boy did we not see that one coming!

There are so many problems with this film, but I'll highlight a few positive things and wrap up because I have a lot of other things to do. Lizzy Caplan killed it as the "new" Fourth Horseman, as she killed basically every scene she was in. Additionally Daniel Radcliffe had a BLAST in his role, putting in a hilarious and evil performance as he attempts to put his Harry Potter persona in the rear view mirror. If anything this film set up the notion that Radcliff is up for whatever, which he better be because Swiss Army Man is right around the corner. Beyond that.....uhhhhh.....some of the cinematography was good, particularly during the magic sequences, but it was surrounded by shaky cam in the chase sequences and a HORRIBLY choreographed motorbike sequence soooooo that kind of negates that. Annnnnnnnnndddddddd uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I got nothing. Screw it. 3/10.

The Critique: Corporate greed rears its ugly head again in this messy sequel that no one wanted.

The Recommendation: Gotta love it when I say this: AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE

Rewatchability: Moderately Low

The Verdict: 3/10 Bad. 


Film Credit: http://cdn.collider.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/now-you-see-me-2-lizzy-caplan-daniel-radcliffe-jesse-eisenberg-woody-harrelson-dave-franco.jpg