It is nearly a decade since Now You See Me 2 so I was not expecting this belated second sequel to the 2013 original. Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Isla Fisher, and Morgan Freeman all reprise their roles with Ruben Fleischer taking over directorial duties. The Four Horsemen (Eisenberg, Harrelson, Fisher and Franco) reunite to recruit three skilled illusionists for a high stakes heist involving the theft of the world’s largest queen diamond from a powerful family crime syndicate.
The best way to enjoy this entertaining caper is to not think too deeply about the implausibility. It is very slick and a whole lot of fun as twist piles upon twist. Eisenberg clearly loves this franchise, although with the new recruits, played by Justice Smith, Dominic Sessa and Ariana Greenblatt dominating the run time, the original four plus the also returning Lizzy Caplan, have less to do than normal.
With Rosamund Pike making a nicely smarmy villain, I think this is a step up from the last series entry. In fact, despite a predictable reveal of the person who set up the scheme, it probably holds up throughout better than either of the first two.
Rating: 7 out of 10