Now You See Me 2
Directed by: Jon M. Chu
Written by: Ed Solomon
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Daniel Radcliffe, Lizzy Caplan, Jay Chou, Sanaa Lathan, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, David Warshofsky, Tsai Chin
Action/Comedy/Thriller - 129 min Written by Charlie Juhl on 6 June 2016
Written by: Ed Solomon
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Daniel Radcliffe, Lizzy Caplan, Jay Chou, Sanaa Lathan, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, David Warshofsky, Tsai Chin
Action/Comedy/Thriller - 129 min Written by Charlie Juhl on 6 June 2016
The Horsemen disappeared at the end of 2013’s Now You See Me into a sea of dollar bills during their final trick and learned there was a fourth Horseman the entire time, the FBI agent in charge of arresting them. Instead of feeling like a blindsiding master reveal, the surprise confirmed the film was going for silly shock and awe and wasted the potential of its characters who were at the precipice of interesting. Now You See Me 2 pulls the Horsemen away from almost achieving depth and may actually strip away a dimension from their personalities. New director Jon M. Chu of Jem and the Holograms and Justin Bieber’s Believe fame, perhaps the most atrocious resumé in Hollywood, takes over and opts for flash bangs over subtlety. Spuriously wasting the talents of Jesse Eisenberg, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Mark Ruffalo, and Woody Harrelson is a cinematic crime against humanity and the audience suffers for it.
Picking up where they left off, exposing charlatans and cads, the Horsemen invade a tech expo to pull the mask off a computer wizard whose new computer chip has the side benefit of being to hack into any computer it wants to. In a somewhat predictable turning of tables, the Horsemen realize they are the subjects in someone else’s magic trick and quickly find themselves on the run. Who is behind it all? How did someone find out about the Horsemen? Most importantly, who cares?
Picking up where they left off, exposing charlatans and cads, the Horsemen invade a tech expo to pull the mask off a computer wizard whose new computer chip has the side benefit of being to hack into any computer it wants to. In a somewhat predictable turning of tables, the Horsemen realize they are the subjects in someone else’s magic trick and quickly find themselves on the run. Who is behind it all? How did someone find out about the Horsemen? Most importantly, who cares?
In an odd character switcheroo, Isla Fisher’s character, the lone female Horseman, is written out and replaced with Lizzy Caplan (The Night Before) who ensures we all know she is the weak link in this strong cast. Looking beyond the D-grade material everyone must work with, Caplan yells just about everything and comes off as severely off-putting. Dave Franco (Neighbors), the forgotten Horseman last time around, gets way more action in the sequel and it comes at the expense of Caplan’s time doing everyone a favor by keeping her off screen until the next ensemble appearance.
The most important element for a successful ensemble is for each character to acquire and maintain an individual definition. This takes time, deliberate pacing, and dialogue meant to shape and explore. Screenwriter Ed Solomon (1993’s Super Mario Bros.) never comes close to such depth. Another ensemble technique is to intentionally force apart personalities because if they overlap too much, they will blend and produce forgettable characters. Solomon over shifts and drives the personalities to the extremes to keep them apart. Eisenberg is extra surly, Ruffalo is uncertain and self-conscious, Caplan is a clown, and Woody Harrelson (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2) gets lost in the middle.
Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman, London Has Fallen) seethes in a prison cell plotting revenge against those pesky Horsemen sending them what look like YouTube messages alluding to their downfall in riddles. The Horsemen framed him for stealing a bunch of cash and he’ll get those meddling kids if it’s the last thing he does. Fleeing the scene from their blindsiding exposure in New York, the crew wakes up seconds later in Macau. Who is going to explain this nonsense? Daniel Radcliffe (Trainwreck) of course. Playing the off the grid schemer, Walter, he forces the Horsemen to carry out a slick heist of the computer chip mentioned earlier, the ultimate hacking tool. The preview makes it look like Thaddeus is behind it all but I honestly don’t know how he ties in; Freeman tends to come and go as he pleases, even in prison.
This may be the first time audiences see Radcliffe as a true antagonist as he struts around his lofty hotel room playing the stereotypical British villain. It’s an acting rite of passage I suppose. The film’s highlight is the amusing theft of the chip which they paste on a playing card. The crew zips and zings this card all over a secure room while guards search their every nook and cranny. It’s a light moment but suspenseful as they can make this playing card do the impossible.
Turning the tables on the Horsemen is a logical way to set up a sequel, trapping them in someone else’s magic trick just as they trapped their victims in the original. But why stuff the screenplay with amateur dialogue, an incomprehensible story of who is involved how, and end it with a thud? The Horsemen conclude their charade in London with some monster public displays like last time, but they don’t even approach their earlier intrigue. The magic is mundane, except for Eisenberg’s (Louder Than Bombs) bit, and all this does is cement how much Now You See Me 2 wastes his talent. The studio hired the guy behind two Step Up movies, a Bieber documentary, the G.I. Joe sequel, and Jem and the Holograms. It was doomed from the start. Learn your lesson, even Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman cannot save garbage.
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