NOW YOU SEE ME - THE SECOND ACT : Wednesday 8th June 2016.

'NOW YOU SEE ME : THE SECOND ACT' is the follow up to 2013's first instalment in this magic heist adventure offering that was Directed by Louis Leterrier, comprised an all star cast, and despite its largely mixed critical reviews it made US$352M from its US$75M production budget and was therefore hailed a commercial success at least. Three short years later, and as if by magic we have a sequel up our sleeve, this time Directed by Jon M. Chu with much of that original line up reprising their roles. This film had a bigger budget than the first at US$90M and was released in Australia largely ahead of the rest of the world with its Stateside release on 10th June and the rest of the world thereafter. As long ago as a year, Lionsgate Films announced that 'Now You See Me 3' was already in the planning stages, so its very much looks like our intrepid, daring 'Four Horsemen' will survive to ride another day, and perform more sleight of hand for your disbelieving pleasure with plenty more tricks up their sleeves.

Essentially one year on from cleverly outwitting the FBI with a grand illusion to end all grand illusions whilst winning over the confidence, respect, support and adulation of the general public, 'The Four Horsemen' (no, not those from 'X-Men : Apocalypse') - Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson), Jack Wilder (Dave Franco) and new girl on the block replacing Isla Fisher, Lula (Lizzy Caplan) reappear for an encore performance in the hopes of exposing the unethical dealings of a tech magnate who is about to launch a new smart phone on the world that will gobble up all your personal and private data and use it for seemingly unscrupulous means to become all controlling. Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) meanwhile leads The Four Horsemen covertly whilst 'working' for the FBI in supposedly tracking down The Four Horsemen, but along the way sending those authority figures on a merry hunt half way around the world to maintain their cover, their disappearing act for over a year now, and allowing them to go about their business largely unhindered.

Assembled, and with another grand illusion at the ready, The Four Horsemen prepare to make their mark on a Conference/Exhibition Hall where this latest smart phone is to be revealed on an unsuspecting world. When things go awry and Rhodes plan is scuppered by the FBI, the illusionists need to make a quick exit stage left. In doing so, they escape via a roof top and slide down a construction shute that is meant to exit them in an awaiting truck several stories below . . . but instead they emerge in a Chinese looking kitchen with surprised Chefs rattling the pans all around them. They walk out of the kitchen dazed and confused into a bustling restaurant and quickly learn that they are in downtown Macau - WTF just happened they exclaim looking totally bewildered.

As they quickly gather their thoughts, they are welcomed by Chase McKinney (Woody Harrelson) - the estranged twin brother of Merritt, and who has a serious axe to grind against his brother, and vice versa. Suffice to say there is no love lost between them. The four get loaded up into an obligatory black 4WD and taken off across town to meet devious tech wizard Walter Mabry (Daniel Radcliffe). Meanwhile Rhodes is back on the other side of the world wondering where the hell his Four Horsemen are, and their phones are unresponsive.

Mabry announces that he engineered their 'abduction' to Macau and explains how he preformed that trick, and reveals that in exchange for their freedom from his clutches and those of the FBI, he requires them to steal a micro-chip embedded in a playing card sized sliver of plastic. The chip has the ability to hack into any computer in the world, decrypt any code, break any password and reveal the most secret, sensitive information to the holder of said chip. Of the four, only Atlas agrees and so the others are forced to go along with the plan, and have 24 hours to do so. They swing into action visiting the worlds oldest magic store which just happens to be there is Macau, for some essential supplies with which to pull off this daring heist from a heavily guarded technical fortress.

Meanwhile back on American soil, Rhodes receives a phone call from Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman) who is locked up in a prison cell, having been put there by Rhodes himself as a result of his antics in the first film. With Rhodes now being chased down by the FBI who have worked out his cunning agenda, he reluctantly reaches out to Bradley who claims he knows the whereabouts of The Four Horsemen, and will reveal their location in exchange for a 24 hour leave pass. Bradley and Rhodes arrive in Macau after the Four Horsemen have deftly and with remarkable sleight of hand acquired the microchip, with Atlas waiting in a downtown market to hand over the merchandise to Mabry and his henchmen. At that point Atlas is intercepted by Rhodes, and a fight breaks out as Atlas gets away with the chip leaving Rhodes to fend off the others after Mabry reveals his intentions towards them were hardly genuine.

When the dust settles Rhodes and The Four Horsemen reunite to ponder their next move. Aided by the magic shop owner and her son, they devise a cunning plan to beat Mabry at his own game - in London on New Years Eve where they will stage their greatest illusion yet, and they let the world know of their imminent arrival. In the meantime, we have learnt that Mabry is the illegitimate son of Arthur Tressler (who The Four Horsemen tricked out of millions of dollars in the first film), and so he has his own agenda to rid the world of Rhodes and his four magicians, and has Bradley on side too.

As the action moves to London on NYE The Four Horsemen assemble at various points across the city and each gather a crowd of expectant on lookers ready to see their magical mastery up close & personal. Behind the scenes the FBI has gathered ready to nab Rhodes and The Four Horsemen when they appear. Mabry & Tressler have also touched down still hunting the chip, and so they too are in hot pursuit. What follows is a cat and mouse game across a busy London on NYE as the FBI close in but as usual are one step behind the bad guys who have captured Rhodes, Atlas, McKinney, Lula and Wilder and intend to make off with them by private jet and dispose of them once the chip is in their safe hands. But of course, the gang of grand illusionists have a few tricks up their sleeve which ensures the downfall of Mabry, Tressler and Chase in front of a worldwide audience.

In the final analysis, Rhodes, Atlas, McKinney, Wilder and Lula convene in Greenwich when the dust has settled and the FBI are off their scent. There Rhodes meets with Bradley who reveals his true identity as a close friend and business partner to Rhodes' father, Lionel Shrike (Richard Laing) who died when the young Dylan was just eight years of age performing an illusion that went horribly wrong. Also revealed are three other members of 'The Eye' who we were introduced to earlier in the film, as Bradley bids his farewells from his office headquarters.

I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by this film. It moves along at a cracking pace and the cast are strong enough both individually and as an ensemble to complete this magic circle and make it greater than the sum of its parts. The illusions and the magic are well orchestrated if somewhat stretched in their plausibility, but then hey, this is a film about master illusionists writ large and their ability to perform feats of magic on a grand scale, so you'll need to suspend your disbelief and go along for the ride. The one flaw in this tale for me is the ability for the gang to perform their illusions on such a grand scale so quickly using very limited time and resources and pull everything off so successfully. There's no months, not even weeks, of pre-planning, preparations, rehearsals, assembling a crew, fine tuning, checking and double checking that everything works and is at it should be . . . but then I guess this is the magic of Hollywood, and why let practical details get in the way of a good story. It is worth the price of your ticket, it delivers exactly what you would expect from the first film, and as sequels go, it ain't bad!

 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-