NOW YOU SEE ME 2 – The sequel to the surprise hit magicians turned thieves movie from 2013. This time the bad guys from episode one are after revenge but nothing is what it seems.
Nutshell – The Four Horseman magician team are in hiding after the events of the first movie. An attempt to bring down a ‘Steve Jobs’ type character goes badly wrong and they escape down a builders shoot in New York and come out the other end in Macau, China into the hands of a new techno wizz kid wrong’un! Who is the bad guy?, Who’s on the good side? It all turns in on itself many times like a coiling reptile with big set pieces, reveals and high drama like the best magic should with the years starriest cast.
Time – 129 mins; Certificate – 12A
Tagline – ‘Reappearing June 30th – You Haven’t Seen Anything Yet’.
THE GAY UK FACTOR – Dave Franco the youngest of the horseman is just so damn cute and hot we just want to make magic babies with him all day and night. If you can watch this movie and not think about his ass all the time then you are better than us. As an added bonus Harry Potter himself Daniel Radcliffe turns up and boy is he starting to look a real hottie – Expelliramus, the boy has become a man
Cast – Well known as the biggest starriest cast of the year with Jessie Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Mark ‘The Hulk’ Ruffalo, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Franco, Ratcliffe and the sexiest thing to ever come out of Devon the Divergent star Ben Lamb
Key Player – This is Jessie Eisenberg’s film, The Social Network star has turned into an actor that draws the eye away from everyone in all the movies he is in. He is a true star here.
Budget – $90 Million mostly in star wages but only made 65 mil back. A huge chunk of the film is located in China matching the current trend from films such as Transformers etc to directly target the huge Asian box office which may help this film’s figures.
Best Bit – 0.58 mins; A break in to a high-tech facility which requires an extensive slight of hand set of tricks with a single playing card involving all five magicians.
Worst Bit – Two huge problems firstly Isla Fisher is greatly missed as the female horseman and Harrelson’s twin character here does not fit and really annoys in every scene he is in and as for his hair and facial hair ? – it’s just some rubbish casting.
Little Secret – Isla Fisher had to be replaced and the story rewritten due to pregnancy.
Movie Mistake – Lot’s; The Dallas skyline is used for the second safe scene supposedly in China, The FBI’s GPS seems to be on the blink and pointing at all sorts of places in London rather than Greenwich as it should be and as for the Dave Franco doing the public street three card trick in Covent garden at the same time as hypnotizing a key character in Greenwich well now that is real magic!
Further Viewing – Now You See Me 1, The Illusionist, The Prestige, Harry Potter and the Goblet Of Fire, Hugo, Legend and The Great Houdini.
Any Good – Well it is all pretty confusing and don’t even consider it if you have not seen the first film. Basically this just isn’t as good as the original which was fresh, fun and exciting this seems like a straight forward repeat film without the fizz – a magic trick that just doesn’t really come off.
Rating – 66/100 (66th out of the last 100 films reviewed with 1 being Gay UK heaven and 100 being pants)