‘Now You See Me 2’: Smug, convoluted sequel works no magic

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Woody Harrelson (left) and Dave Franco in “Now You See Me 2.” | Summit Entertainment

Sitting through the smug and convoluted and ridiculous “Now You See Me 2” is like being subjected to a dunk tank again and again — and then being handed a wet towel when it’s finally over.

The only thing more headache-inducing than the setup of a long con is the supposed payoff at the end. Even the main characters groan in frustration in the last minutes of this film when they’re told they’re not going to get answers to most of their questions. Gee thanks.

The best disappearing act in the sequel to the 2013 moderate box-office hit is performed by Isla Fisher, who was in the original but is nowhere in sight for the sequel. Ta da!

“Now You See Me 2” boasts quite the impressive cast: two Academy Award winners in Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine, three Oscar nominees in Woody Harrelson, Mark Ruffalo and Jesse Eisenberg and a likable supporting cast including Lizzy Caplan, Sanaa Lathan, Dave Franco and Daniel Radcliffe.

Not a one of them escapes the chains of a nearly indecipherable plot, loads of clunky dialogue, an overload of sweeping overhead shots, action sequences cut so rapidly they’re practically in fast motion, an intrusive, obnoxious score and so many special effects there’s nothing magical at all about the magic.

It’s not sleight-of-hand; it’s CGI masquerading as the art of misdirection.

Three of the four globally famous Robin Hood magicians — Jesse Eisenberg’s Atlas, Woody Harrelson’s Merritt and Dave Franco’s Jack — have been underground for a year, patiently awaiting their next assignment from the mysterious and all-powerful group known only as The Eye. (The absence of Isla Fisher’s Henley is explained in a throwaway line, and then poof! Lizzy Caplan’s Lula joins the Horsemen.)

Mark Ruffalo’s Dylan is an FBI agent but he’s also the leader of the Horsemen and their conduit to The Eye. Meanwhile, Morgan Freeman’s magic-debunker Thaddeus Bradley is in prison, biding his time and plotting his revenge against Dylan and the Horsemen for (he claims) framing him for crimes he didn’t commit.

The Horsemen emerge from their self-imposed exile in spectacular fashion, hijacking a tech company’s product launch to expose its insidious privacy-invading gadgetry — but the tables are turned on the Horsemen, who suddenly find themselves in Macau, and congratulations to the Sands Macao Hotel and Casino for some fantastic and blatant branding placement.

Now it’s the Horsemen who are being pursued by myriad forces that want them behind bars or dead.

Daniel Radcliffe hams it up as Walter Mabry, an insane business mogul who faked his own death and now wants the Horsemen to steal an all-important computer chip for him. (Franco’s Jack also faked his own death, and that’s at least one faked-death subplot too many.) If they don’t comply, he’ll have them killed. (We get a number of scenes in which the Horsemen are punched, kicked and pushed around by various thugs. They’re supposedly the greatest escape artists in the world, but they can’t seem to escape the clutches of punch-happy henchmen.)

Michael Caine returns as Arthur Tressler, the evil insurance magnate who was bilked of millions by the Horsemen and now wants HIS revenge. (Judging by Tressler’s Trumpian lifestyle, he must have had a few hundred million squirreled away.)

And if things weren’t crowded enough, Harrelson plays his own twin brother, a cackling psychopath who hates his sibling. In a career filled with interesting performances, Harrelson’s work as the weirdo twin is not one of those performances. It’s a disaster.

In fact “NYSM2” brings out the worst in so many talented actors. Caplan overplays her comedic punch lines, Ruffalo seems almost uninterested in his own work, Caine and Freeman are phoning it in, and Eisenberg and Franco fall short of conveying the supposedly endless onstage charisma of their respective characters.

Director Jon M. Chu (whose credits include “Jem and the Holograms,” a couple of “Step Up” sequels and “G.I. Joe: Retaliation”) is obsessed with flashy moves and knows how to deliver attractive visuals, but he’s not so well versed when it comes to elaborately choreographed set pieces. Just one example: a scene in which the Horseman play keep-away with a playing card containing a priceless totem is clunky and utterly unconvincing.

More than once, characters in “Now You See Me 2” make references to pulling back the curtain, a la “The Wizard of Oz.” At one point, there’s an actual curtain, and the Horsemen swing that curtain open …

And what’s behind that curtain is just as much of an incomprehensible jab at the audience as everything else in this film.

‘Now You See Me 2’ one and a half stars

Summit Entertainment presents a film directed by Jon M. Chu and written by Ed Solomon. Running time: 129 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for violence and some language). Opens Friday at local theaters.

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