Now You See Me 2: Now You Don't

A five syllable word comes to mind when thinking of 'Now You See Me 2', even before it was released - and that is, "unnecessary". Now, that doesn't really say much. I've seen movies that were unnecessary that ended up being phenomenal, and I've seen the opposite...so there was never really any telling what this film would bring, but given my fascination with magic and the first film, I thought it prudent to at least give the second film a chance. 

'Now You See Me 2' brings more of the same from the opposite vantage point. What I mean by that is the first film had a certain respect towards the illusion of magic, while this movie did that as well - it had just a smidgen more focus on the tricks instead. Basically, you get to see how they did it - instead of see the trick first then explain it later (like the first film). This did one very important thing - it made 'Now You See Me 2' look like another addition to the 'Oceans 11' films. To put it more simply, it was just a heist movie - and not one that was AS special as the first one provided. That being said, the story itself wasn't bad. You just had to put your annoyances aside to understand that. 

The first film also had more visually appealing things happening throughout the film, but that's also because it focused more on the illusions of magic. There are a few things here and there that make the movie look great, but I feel as if they focused more on the story, the twists, and the turns. That's fine, that's totally fine, but without the visuals - the story isn't as powerful, in my opinion, and once again, unnecessary. 

The characters are more or less identical to the first, plus or minus a couple of oddball decisions. First of all, Isla Fisher is nowhere to be seen, as they have replaced her entirely with Lizzy Caplan. While there is some minor explanations, it's not nearly enough to just add someone else to the biggest criminal magician circle in the world - The Four Horsemen. I get it, they needed a fourth person, but I needed more backstory. Next, and without spoiling anything, I just want to say their decision to create an evil twin scenario (you'll know what I'm talking about after seeing the movie) was stupid. That one decision threw me off from the start, and I never really got back into the rhythm of the film. 

Here's what I've been trying to say. I know I'm giving the movie crap based solely on whatever successes the first film had. Now, if I were to rate this movie solely on its own, I'd have to give it some credit - it is a fun movie. There's a ton of action, there's a ton of smart thinking, and the characters you like are still there. I couldn't write this movie, and I don't know anyone else that could either. You need to give a movie credit when they receive what they were going for - and I believe they really did. I can complain all I want, but I can't ignore the fact that I had a good time watching it, regardless. It's pointless, it's unnecessary, but it's fun. 

You should give it a try.