I Watch Films: Now You See Me 2

The sequel to the Robin-Hood-Magician-Heist film. Bored with nothing to do after the events of Now You See Me, the horsemen are all eager to start a new scam (except Henley as the actress left so her character was replaced; frankly she was the one doing best at the start of Now You See Me so it was unclear why she followed the clues to join the team in the first place). Of course it goes wrong; Daniel Radcliffe (who has faked his own death, like one of the horsemen) captures them and forces them to steal (back?) a chip that lets you spy on everyone’s phones and computers.

Anyway the set-pieces are superb, each team is inside the other’s heads at various times, and it’s a lot of fun. Someone feels the need to make this film bigger and better than the first and I’m not sure it works? The intimate tricks are cleverer and more interesting to me than the big ridiculous illusions. Still there is a whole arsenal of Chekov’s guns, almost every throwaway line is a foreshadowing. Too much emphasis on hypnotic nonsense, but why not, if you must go big, go ludicrously big.

Watch This: For clever, tricky heist stuff.
Don’t Watch This: If crime and magic do nothing for you.