Now You See Me 2

While 2013's Now You See Me featured intriguing interludes of magic and dazzling stage illusions, most of that is (poof!) gone in this shallow and often incoherent sequel. Once again the focus is on the elusive team of rogue tricksters known as the Four Horsemen, consisting of renowned illusionist J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), master hypnotist Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson), and sleight-of-hand expert Jack Wilder (Dave Franco), with female cohort Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher) being replaced by spunky Lula (Lizzy Caplan), a fake-violence specialist. A year after the original film's spectacular Las Vegas heist, magician/FBI agent Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) involves the team in a chase through some kind of pipeline, transporting them from Manhattan to Macau, China, into an ancient magic shop run by Li (Jay Chou) and his grandmother (Tsai Chin). The team is abducted by an unethical tech prodigy, Walter Mabry (Daniel Radcliffe), who is determined to acquire a card-shaped mini-circuit board that would give him access to everyone's private information. Suddenly, the group's old nemesis, malevolent corporate financier Arthur Tressler (Michael Caine), reappears and he's working with McKinney's evil twin brother (also played by Woody Harrelson). Meanwhile, Rhodes tries to uncover what really happened to his Houdini-like father, who drowned back in 1984, and it is obvious that skeptical Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman), a professional debunker, knows more than he's willing to reveal. Helmed by Jon M. Chu, this initially flashy caper quickly collapses under the weight of its convoluted misdirection, lacking the urgency and suspense (not to mention the sense of playfulness and flaky fun) of the original. Optional. (S. Granger)