Now You See Me 2 (2016) – Review

2016   •   Lionsgate

Rated:  PG-13

Length:  2 hr  9min

Crime ~ Drama ~ Mystery ~ Thriller

Director:  Jon M. Chu

Writer:  Ed Solomon and Peter Chiarelli.

Actors:  Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Daniel Radcliffe, Lizzy Caplan, Jay Chou, Sanaa Lathan, Michael Caine, and Morgan Freeman.

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You Haven’t Seen Anything Yet!

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Official Trailer

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Now You See Me 2 (2016) – Review

Now You See Me 2 starts with a look back at the night that Lionel Shrike died. In 1984, on the New Jersey side of the East River, Lionel attempted to escape from a safe lowered into the river. His son Dylan was there, timing the three minutes on the watch his Dad gave him. Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman) was there reporting on the stunt and the aftermath of Lionel failing to escape out of the safe and the river. Dylan’s anguish over his Father’s death was the catalyst for the events of Now You See Me (2013).

Dylan spent thirty years scheming and planning the elaborate events of the first movie: His double life as an FBI Agent, Recruiting The Four Horsemen, The takedown of Arthur Tressler’s Insurance Company (who insured Lionel’s stunt and refused to pay), The Elkhorn Safe Company heist (They manufactured the safe Lionel died in) and Crédit Républicain de Paris (The French bank where Tressler’s insurance money was held). He not only stole millions of dollars from each of them, essentially bankrupting them, he also destroyed their reputation in the process.

Now You See Me 2 finds The Four Horsemen scattered around New York City, in hiding after escaping from The FBI. Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher) has grown tired of the waiting game and told The Eye that she wanted out. Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) has recruited Lula May (Lizzy Caplan) to take her place in the new performance he is staging for The Four Horsemen. He plans to expose Owen Case (Ben Lamb) and his Company Octa who are about to release a new Cell Phone Model. While being touted as being revolutionary for consumer privacy, it is actually going to be used to secretly harvest personal data from their users.

However, in Now You See Me 2, the hunter becomes the hunted. The empires Dylan dismantled didn’t just disappear; they left behind a legacy of their own. The Horsemen’s highly anticipated return is instantly derailed when their show is hijacked by Walter Mabry (Daniel Radcliffe), a technical prodigy who, along with his father, is seeking a very personal brand of restitution. They hijack the Horsemen’s comeback performance, exposing Dylan’s double life and forcing the magicians into a high-stakes game where the secrets are more dangerous than the illusions. Exposed and vulnerable, they find themselves teleported halfway across the world to Macau.

Now, Dylan and the Horsemen must navigate a world where they are no longer the ones pulling the strings. It becomes a desperate fight to avoid the FBI, clear their names, and somehow turn the tables on their new adversaries. It is a different twist and take on Now You See Me, with an exotic location in Macau and a different chaotic energy with Lizzy Caplan as Lula May, and Daniel Radcliffe as Walter Mabry. And just like the first movie, there are twists and turns you don’t see coming and keep you guessing right up until the end.

Sequels are notorious for being less than the original. Now You See Me 2 falls right in line with that theory, relying heavily on CGI instead of the street magic roots of the first film. The absence of Isla Fisher is a huge vacuum in the presence of The Four Horsemen, although Lizzy Caplan brings her own magic to the mix. That being said, the twists and turns, and the addition of Lizzy and Daniel, saved the show! Now unto Now You See Me: Now You Don’t!

Now You See Me 2 (2016) – Review by Bobby @ Streaming Movie Night.

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Movie Stills

Now You See Me 2 (2016) – Review – © 2026 Streaming Movie Night

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