2 min to read
Now You See Me- Now You Don't
Is the newest Now You See Me movie as magical as the originals?
Review: This movie is just a good, not great sequel. The new cast brings a lot of charm, but they made me miss the banter, wit, and sass of the old cast. Since this was a late sequel, so much time was spent introducing the new characters and referencing prior films that they didn’t do anything exciting and new with the old cast. It was just a weekend get together of old friends.
What I love about the first movie is how you are following the perspective of Dylan, the FBI agent trying to take them down, making it a very fun and smart game of cat and mouse. The second movie, while a lot of fun, decided to overcomplicate the plot a little too much, focusing on developing the lore rather than making a truly groundbreaking sequel. Compared to the 2nd movie, I loved how straightforward the plot was in this movie. It didn’t waste its time trying to develop the world and the lore, it went right for the action and story, being told with an incredibly fast pace, which I greatly appreciated. The only downside to setting up the story and plot this way is that they spent so much catching up and introducing new characters, it really felt like the characters were being dragged through the fast plot rather than driving the plot forward themselves, and I think one of the main reasons behind this was that the film lacked urgency, as there was no real rush or pressure for certain events to happen nor any deadlines that had to be met.
As for the new characters, they are fun to watch for the most part. At the beginning, the characters are a little annoying, but they grow on you by the end. Each of the new 3 characters is basically a carbon copy of one of the existing Horsemen, so the dynamics they have with the Horsemen they are similar to is super entertaining. As for the existing characters, I wish the movie had more for them. Their whole role in the movie was to help be a plot driver along with being mentors to the new characters. Because they took more of a mentoring role, most of the scenes they had and dialogue they said was reminiscing on old events. They didn’t have any new character development, character changes, or any interesting new tricks, which was super disappointing.
Overall, this is a tricky movie to review because if you are a fan of the first 2 movies there’s no way you wouldn’t like this one. My struggle with reviewing is that the movie was enjoyable, but I didn’t feel like the movie did anything new and interesting besides introducing the younger kids. It’s also just a combination of the first two movies, but with slightly different characters and only slightly different tricks. I also wish there would have been a moment in the movie that WOW-ed me. Despite all of this, it was still a lot of fun to watch. I just wish it was a little better.
Rating: 3/5
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