Now You See Me 2 (Rhoades)

Front Row at the Movies

“Now You See Me 2”

Pulls Slight-of-Hand

Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades

In the third grade I performed magic tricks for my class. The kids were charged a nickel a head, a fundraiser for the school picnic.

As a young amateur, I could perform a few neat tricks: the Floating Pencil, the Vanishing Coin, the Levitating Ball, the Sliced Rope, the Endless Handkerchiefs, the Moving Ball Under the Cup, and various card tricks. But the Chinese Linking Rings trick was my big finale. It puzzled everybody.

That’s why I love movies about magicians -- “Houdini,” “The Prestige,” “The Illusionist.”

Needless to say, I liked the 2013 movie “Now You See Me,” a heist adventure in which four magicians make all the money disappear in a Paris bank vault. Very cool.

So you can be sure I’m ready for a second act. That is to say, a sequel called “Now You See Me 2.”  It’s now pulling rabbits out of the hat at Tropic Cinema.

Both films star Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, and Dave Franco, (with a pregnant Isla Fisher replaced in the sequel by Lizzy Caplan) as the Four Horsemen, a now-you-see-‘em-now-you-don’t stage act. One’s an arrogant illusionist, the second a bitter mentalist, the third a nervous slight-of-hand expert, the fourth a beautiful escape artist.

Mark Ruffalo reprises his role as an FBI agent with a few tricks of his own. Morgan Freeman returns as a retired master magician. And Michael Caine is back as the moneybags antagonist.

Add to the mix Daniel Radcliffe as a rich techie who matches wits with the Four Horsemen.

This “matching wits” pretty much sums up the plot, another big heist adventure cloaked in lots of magic tricks. And who’s-on-which-side trickery.

Will the Four Horsemen’s magic win out over technology? Well, what do you think? There’s a “Now You See Me 3” is in the works.

This new franchise is guaranteed to make money disappear from your pocketbook.

srhoades@aol.com