The four horsemen have returned and this caper is even bigger than the one featured in the original “Now You See Me” film from 2013.
Picking up several years after the events in the first installment, the F.B.I. has continued its investigation of the mysterious foursome but can’t seem to pin down the location of the elusive magical team, not knowing that one member of the group is actually employed in their midst. Add to that the motivated search by Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman) to find the group that set him up to take the fall in the first movie and you’ve got the foundation for the events in the second installment.
Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson and Dave Franco return, but Isla Fisher has been replaced by Lizzy Kaplan whose incessant banter is somewhat of a distraction during the story. She’s a nice counterpoint, though, to Eisenberg’s motor mouth.
This time, the group is going after corporations who have developed software that will allow them to take personal information from private cell phones and sell that material to the highest bidder. The fun begins, though, when we learn just who is behind the whole corporate veil. As the Wizard of Oz once said, “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.” That’s the reason they always seem to get away with it all.
This movie is part magical act but with a healthy dose of “Mission: Impossible” rolled in for good measure. There’s one sequence in the middle of the movie that takes place in a high tech facility that almost reminds me of scenes from one of the recent Tom Cruise blockbusters from that franchise.
The magic sequences in the story are excellent. Now we know that the tricks have been enhanced for the theatrical experience, but when you’ve got a magician like David Copperfield on staff, you know that the illusions planned for the story will be top notch, even if they are faked.
It’s actually fun to see the story unfold and the acting is the real star of the movie despite the great tricks and special effects. Eisenberg and Harrelson have never been better together, even surpassing their rapport in what has become one of my favorite movie dark comedies, “Zombieland.”
Harrelson gets to play double duty in this installment, introducing us to Merritt McKinney’s twin brother who has an agenda all his own. And inspired casting brings aboard boy wizard Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe into the franchise as a man with his own motivations for manipulation and vengeance.
The story is well paced and the final caper, while being somewhat predictable, is still exciting to see and a good capper for the action that preceded it. There’s also a big reveal at the end that even I didn’t see coming even though the story hints at it from the opening scene.
Remember that with magic, not everything is exactly what it appears to be. And so too, this can be said about the events that unfold in this movie.
The stage has been set for a third installment as well. Let’s hope that the capers keep getting bigger and better. I give “Now You See Me 2” four out of five stars.
