I never saw 2013’s hit Now You See Me, but my husband Mike saw it, and enjoyed it. When we went to see the new sequel Now You See Me 2, all I knew about it was from what I had seen in the trailer. It looked like it had a great cast, which included Morgan Freeman and Harry Potter, I mean Daniel Radcliffe, as well as Mark Ruffalo, Jesse Eisenberg, and a few more familiar faces.
Now You See Me 2 is a magical (pun intended) movie full of illusions. The film was entertaining, and kept my interest throughout. I would have enjoyed it more if I had seen the first one, but I was able to follow along throughout most of the film without knowing anything that happened in the first film.
Mark Ruffalo plays Dylan Rhodes, an FBI agent by day and the leader of a quartet of magicians called the Four Horsemen by night. I’m used to seeing him in romantic comedies such as 13 Going on 30 or Just Like Heaven, or most recently in the Academy Award winning film Spotlight, where he played a hard hitting journalist moved to tears. This was the first film in which I’ve ever seen Ruffalo in any sort of action sequences, and while it was surprising to see him throwing punches, he pulled it off well.
The Four Horseman are played by Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, and Lizzy Caplan. After the film was over, Mike shared with me that when it came to the female member of The Four Horseman he preferred Isla Fisher, who appeared in the first film as Henley, more than Lizzy Caplan, who played Lula. He felt that Henley’s character was more confident and competent than Lula’s character. He also felt like Lula’s snarkiness didn’t mesh with the rest of the team. Personally I thought Franco’s character was the most handsome, I mean most impressive, of the magicians.
Woody Harrelson actually plays two characters in this film. He reprises his role as the hypnotic-inducing Merritt, and also plays another character. (I won’t spoil it by telling you who his second character is.) It was a bit atypical to have one actor playing two roles in the same movie, and both Mike and I felt like his second character was a bit distracting.
Morgan Freeman could be in any movie, and I would like the movie just because he starred in it. There’s just something about his voice! He plays Thaddeus Bradley, a character whose allegiance seems to fluctuate throughout the film.
Harry Potter, I mean Daniel Radcliffe, plays a greedy tech wizard (pun intended), who uses science to leverage what he wants rather than magic. I must say it was a bit odd that his character was one of the only characters who didn’t have any magical tricks up his sleeve, and I found myself wondering how the movie would have been different if he had a little lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead.
Overall the movie was exciting and engaging with lots of action scenes and cool special effects. With it being over two hours long, viewers will definitely feel like they’ve gotten their money’s worth. The film kept my attention, but both Mike and I felt like there were a few holes in the plot; nothing that changed my overall impression of the film necessarily, but we both noticed that we were left with a few lingering questions. The magic sequences were impressive, and there were definitely moments that kept me captivated.
When asked what he thought about this sequel, Mike answered, “It was a fun movie; not quite as good as the first one, but still very entertaining. I didn’t feel like there were as many aha moments as there were in the first movie. Overall if you liked the first one, there’s a lot to like about this one too.”
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Genre: Action, Comedy, Thriller
Director: Jon M. Chu
Actors: Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Daniel Radcliffe, Lizzy Caplan, Jay Chou, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman
Rating: PG-13 for violence and some language
Running Time: 2 hours 9 minutes
