The proper title of a sequel to the film Now You See Me is: “Now You Don’t.” End of discussion. As this is also the obvious solution for what to name this sequel, I have to believe it was brought up, considered and rejected by the folks who name these things. Folks, you’re really wrong on this one. Not quite Smilla’s Sense of Snow wrong, more on the order of a self-reflective gaffe like Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All by Myself. But wrong all the same.
Now You Can See Me 2 wasted no time in trading the pregnant Isla Fisher for the in-your-face Lizzy Caplan. Luckily, this latest Horseman (Horsewoman?) spent her extraversion mostly in the face of fellow centaurs J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg) and Jack Wilder (Dave Franco). Lula (“Lula?”) introduces herself by breaking into J. Danny Globemeister’s apartment and beheading herself – gotta say, that would probably earn you a second date with me. You understand these are all professional magicians, right? Simply put, the plot of these movies is “clever smug bastards stick it to power-hungry jerks through magic.” Thing is – I like clever and I like magic. Even if everything seems contrived.
Eventually, all four Horsepeople are regathered anew along with their “leader” Dylan (Mark Ruffalo) to bring down somebody new and evil. But what is this! In the middle of their hijack, these guys are hijacked and called out for being charlatans. Can you imagine being in that audience for real? You’re invited to some stupid overhyped product release so some Steve Jobs-like jackass can unleash his latest attempt to separate you from your paycheck when the Horseman show up to tell you this douche is a douche and then their show is railroaded by somebody even deeper and more subversive force calling them all liars (well, that seems unfair, doesn’t it? Lula has been a member of Hominis Equus for all of five minutes and she’s already being accused of toolery). If you had been subjected to that show live, wouldn’t you just get up and say, “honey, screw this. Let’s go to a movie” instead? And then our equestrians escape, jump off a roof ,wake up in Macao (?!), and meet evil Harry Potter.
The Horseman I haven’t talked about is Merritt (Woody Harrelson) who, upon setting foot in Macao, encounters his smarmy evil twin. No, I’m not kidding. And congrats, Woody, in a film of David over-the-Topperfields, this performance ranks them all.
Now You See Me 2 is not a great movie. This is one of those films you honestly hate yourself for enjoying. Every narrow escape and plot device requires Dana Carvey’s Church Lady accusation, “well isn’t that special?” The best sequence in the film is the four playing one-card Monty in a hermetically sealed room while 
concealing a computer chip attached to a playing card from the Grope Police. Each of the four, in turn, gets to play “Hide the Queen” while being patted down, see? And yet, they all manage to escape with Waldo unfound every time a Handsy Owl gets close. Well isn’t that special?
I don’t lack for reasons to hate Now You See Me 2; it combines a number of things I can’t stand in film — a bad title, an over-the-top asenine performance, and something I loathe in a sequel: a sinking feeling that you overrated the original (see: Another 48 Hrs). Yes, you can hate the smug in this film. The entire production could play to a loop of “Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better)” and not miss a beat. You can hate the premise that everybody alive is hypno-suggestive (the true figure is 5-10%). Not gonna lie – all these factors are weighing me down. And yet, I did not loathe Now You See Me 2. In fact, I still kinda liked it. Maybe I like sleight-of-hand a little too much. Maybe I just like a good magic trick … or fifty. Upon reflection, it’s likelier I’m in that 5-10% window.
♪Any chump you can stump I can stump better
I can stump any chump better than you
No, you can’t
Yes, I can
No, you can’t
Yes, I can
No, you can’t
Yes, I can, yes I can
Any plot you can spot I can spot better
I can rot any plot better than you
No, you can’t
Yes, I can
No, you can’t
Yes, I can
No, you can’t
Yes, I can, yes I can
Any sham you can ham I can ham better
I can ham any sham better than you
No, you can’t
Yes, I can
No, you can’t
Yes, I can
No, you can’t
Yes, I can, yes I can, YES, I CAN!! ♫
Rated PG-13, 129 Minutes
D: John M. Chu
W: Ed Solomon
Genre: Which set of smarmy bastards is the cleverest?
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Sleight-of-hand-o-philes
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: People who hate smug … and ridiculous plots
♪ Parody inspired by “Anything You Can Do”
