Movie Review - Now You See Me 2

Now You See Me 2 ** (out of 5) (PG-13) Hollywood has long thrived on following trends. If one type of film hits it big, then variations will follow. The latest studio tendency is the proliferation of sequels over the past decade, or so. Even though the succor is rarely as good as the original, fans of the first create a built-in base for the next round. It’s also easier to re-hire desired members of the cast and crew than to start from scratch. Caper flicks are hard to reprise, since they depend so highly on originality and surprise. George Clooney’s remake of Ocean’s Eleven was delightful. But Twelve was less engaging, and Thirteen was, at best, regrettable.

The Horsemen, a quartet of magicians who pulled off a grand Robin Hood-esque heist via Copperfield-level performances, taking down a big, bad villain (Michael Caine) gave us a unique combo of dazzling visuals and good over evil, with a reasonable “reveal” at the end. Our team of antiheroes had to go underground, where they’d been for a while before this one opens.

Mark Ruffalo reassembles the team (Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Jesse Eisenberg) with one sub - Lizzy Caplan for Isla Fisher. They think they’re taking down a tech wizard with a hidden agenda, only to learn they’ve been one-upped by a cluster of old and new nemeses. What follows is a plot that’s far more complicated than need be, at the expense of the Wow factor and charm that made the first a success. The performance pieces are not quite as entertaining, and too sparsely scattered among excessive subplots, twists and characters. Director John M. Chu serves up a handful of worthy sequences, but not enough to justify the effort of following Ed Solomon’s overloaded script.

Apparently, a third outing is in the works. If they manage to trim the fat for that one - Ta-da! (6/10/16)