Movie Review
??½
YOU NOW SEE ME 2
Directed by Jon M. Chu. Written by Ed Solomon and Pete Chiarelli; based on characters created by Boaz Yakin and Edward Ricourt. Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Daniel Radcliffe, Lizzy Caplan, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine. At Boston Common, Fenway, suburbs. 129?minutes. PG-13.
‘Now You See Me 2’’ begins with a flashback, followed a bit later by a brief recap of its 2013 predecessor. This makes sense, since it wasn’t the kind of blockbuster hit that audiences can be counted on to be familiar with.
So why make a sequel? Well, why not: This one is more fun.
Director Jon M. Chu (two of the “Step Up’’ movies, “Jem and the Holograms’’) makes sure that “2’’ is as flashy and splashy as the original. Both also register right up there on the implausibility scale — that’s like the Richter scale, only with head scratching — but “2’’ has a lighter touch and more interesting settings. Macau and London, here we come.
Or, rather, here come the Horsemen. They’re the Robin Hood-like illusionists who manage to combine magic with world-class larceny for good causes. Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, and Dave Franco are back. Lizzy Caplan, whose Lula replaces Isla Fisher’s Henley from the first picture, pretty much steals the show with her sultry, smarter-than-the-boys deadpan. Harrelson, who’s looking more and more like a middle-aged Gronk, gives Caplan a run for her money. He has an advantage, though: There are two of him. Harrelson’s character turns out to be twins.
That’s right, twins.
No, “Now You See Me 2’’ doesn’t take itself too seriously.
Actually, Caplan and Harrelson have further competition. Daniel Radcliffe plays the film’s bearded-twerp bad guy with gusto. He’s part Bond villain, part spoiled brat. In a movie relentlessly full of switcheroos, the identity of his father may be the biggest one of all.
Radcliffe’s character, a reclusive tech tycoon, blackmails the Horsemen into stealing this super-gizmo computer chip that allows whoever owns it to bypass the privacy settings on every computer in the world. If Edward Snowden has a Netflix queue in Moscow, expect “Now You See Me 2’’ to end up on it.
Also returning are Mark Ruffalo, having revealed himself at the end of the first movie as the Horsemen’s organizer; Michael Caine, their onetime promoter, still smarting over how they bamboozled him; and Morgan Freeman, whose debunking magician got left holding the bag by Ruffalo. Maybe what we learn about his character is an even bigger surprise than who Radcliffe’s dad is. Either way, the reedy wonder that is Freeman’s voice — it could pull a VW Rabbit out of a hat — is the most magical trick of all.
??½ NOW YOU SEE ME 2
Directed by Jon M. Chu. Written by Ed Solomon and Pete Chiarelli; based on characters created by Boaz Yakin and Edward Ricourt. Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Daniel Radcliffe, Lizzy Caplan, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine. At Boston Common, Fenway, suburbs. 129 minutes. PG-13.
Mark Feeney can be reached at mfeeney@globe.com.
