Starring: Mark Ruffalo, Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Lizzy Caplan, Daniel Radcliffe, Morgan Freeman, Sanaa Lathan, Michael Caine, Jay Chou
Directed By: Jon M Chu

I was a little hard on the original film. I’ve actually found it more enjoyable on repeat viewings. That being said, Now You See Me 2 is basically as fun and perplexing as the first film. I’ve learned that the Now You See Me films are best enjoyed if you don’t really dissect the plot too much. Yes, the magic tricks are silly. And the set ups for them? There are only four horsemen plus Ruffalo, yet they somehow get all these setups done. And they seem to predict everything perfectly. But, if you just assume that they “magically” get all that done, and they are actually that smart, then the movie is kinda fun.

The sequel does have the unfortunate task of replacing Isla Fisher for Lizzy Caplan. Caplan is one of my favorite underrated actresses, so I’m OK with it, as it might help her star rise. I think she’s great. But what I didn’t like was Harrelson playing twinsies the whole movie. His twin is obnoxious, and I feel like the only way Harrelson could figure out how to play him was just to play him gay. He doesn’t have enough range to share the screen with himself, and not play up a stereotype. Sorry.

Also, we wasted Sanaa Lathan. Just sayin.

It’s not a great film, or a bad film. It’s a fun film that somehow makes good use of an over 2 hour running time, which is often hard to do. Ruffalo, Eisenberg, Franco, Caplan, and Radcliffe all do good work. Radcliffe especially is entertaining as the bad guy. It’s one of the best non-Harry Potter things he’s done, in my opinion. I’d come back for a third film.

FINAL GRADE: B