Now You See Me 2 can be best described as forced. It’s a forced and unnatural sequel for so many reasons. It follows the, perhaps surprising, success of 2013’s Now You See Me, about a troupe of performing illusionists. That one, though not particularly critically lauded, went down smoothly with audiences. It is a charming flick with, dare I say, a bit of magic mixed in. But in the sequel, coming three years later, the magic is gone and it all feels like the studio is money grabbing.
The first problem is that of the “girl magician.” Isla Fisher played Henley in the first film, but she was pregnant during filming and couldn’t participate in this one. So the filmmakers…