REVIEW: “Now You See Me 2”

I walked in looking to be entertained and walked out feeling like I just completed a magician’s 101 class.

Sequels aren’t easy. There’s a tendency to make it bigger, make more of whatever the hook is, to double down. But you run the risk of creating an imbalance and minimizing the thing that made the movie enjoyable the first go around.

The original took advantage of the charismatic duo of Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson as they tormented the straight-man in Mark Ruffalo’s character in their cat-and-mouse chase. The interrogation scene was highly memorable. Add to it, Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine weaving throughout and you had fun match-ups in every scene.

Fast forward to “Now You See Me 2”, the same characters, except the female Horseman was replaced, but the glitter is gone. The witty dialogue and engaging battles were replaced with over-the-top magic tricks and twists that served to slow the pacing down.

The film finds the Horseman on the run. A series of events happen that have the Horseman needing to use their skills to steal something. The team stick together for the most part without the type of ongoing cat-and-mouse dynamic that was the spine of the first movie.

Jesse Eisenberg doesn’t have enough to do that makes him shine. And Woody Harrelson has a weird story line that doesn’t add much. The main relationship is between Mark Ruffalo and Morgan Freeman. Their scenes are well done, as you would expect.

Magic Tricks

A lot was put into these tricks. Maybe too much. Sometimes simpler is better. It got to the point where they didn’t feel real, like it was some cgi trick done during editing, making the magicians look more like magical superheros. The writers must have felt this way too because every trick seemed to be accompanied with an explanation as if to say “hey, we’re really doing this and we’ll prove it.”

This wasn’t a deal breaker for me. I came in looking for fun and was happy to leave my brain at the popcorn counter. But one of the tricks lasted for what felt like an entire act. Then there was a section where the Horseman are doing separate tricks. The rain trick was cool but at this point, I was more interested in moving the plot along.

Speaking of Plot

It felt like a train that kept veering off the track onto another one with each twist, subplots and twists within the subplots. The story wasn't difficult to follow; but its progression was slow. Now, things weren’t all bad. The movie started off fast. The problem occurred somewhere at the end of the first act once the Horseman were forced into their plot. Then every scene after that was piled on with tricks and twists. Not enough cool character moments.

In addition, I’m not a fan of scenes where the characters act or respond in a way to trick the audience into thinking one thing when something else is happening. If the characters are acting for a reason to trick another, then fine. But when the characters that are in the know act with other characters that are in the know, well that’s annoying.

All in all, I feel the story would have been better served if they focused more on the characters, witty dialogue and tighter story instead of focusing their energies into creating complications. Everything doesn’t need a twist.


 Score: 5/10

REVIEW: The Curse Of Sleeping Beauty

A unique take on a fairy tale that steers away from the traditional in favor of a Penny Dreadful take, although not as satisfying.

“The Curse of Sleeping Beauty” centers on Thomas, the Prince Charming of the story, played by Ethan Peck. However, this version of “Sleeping Beauty” plays out in modern times and Thomas is just an ordinary guy with a really bad curse passed down to him through his bloodline. Proving, this is one family you don’t want to be born into.

Thomas is haunted by dreams of this beautiful woman, albeit with too much make-up, who he feels compelled to kiss. Doesn’t sound too bad—except there’s this evil entity pestering him as well.

Soon into the story, he inherits a home and things take a turn for the worse. This house has a life of its own and he goes from having a tough time when he sleeps to having a tough time when he sleeps and when he’s awake. Some inheritances just aren’t worth it.

Up to this point, the story had me curious. I wanted to  know more about this curse… how it started, how it related to him and what would that mean for sleeping beauty in this period of time.

But then things slowed down. Not much happened with Thomas meandering between dreaming and trying to figure out what it all means. A couple of characters are added into the mix, though one in a very convenient way.

The film is only ninety minutes and yet it’s not dense at all. There is very little story & character development stretched over this modest time frame. Thomas doesn’t even expand his search too far from a couple of rooms in the house, which shows the lack of budget. But they do use the dim lights and shadows well enough. It’s always dark but it works to effectively create a sense of edge to the creepy scenes.

I’m fifty-fifty on the ending. I appreciate that it looks to do something different and I’m all for originality. But it renders some of the previous events questionable, as well as highlights one of those annoying tropes:

Characters who purposely leave out really important information to make things harder for the hero.

I’m looking at you, Thomas’ uncle. 

Many films of this genre tend to take the route of isolating characters by having them rush into dumb decisions. And “The Curse of Sleeping Beauty” followed this trend as it fell victim to the curse of the horror genre tropes.


Score: 5/10

Review of The Huntsman: Winter’s War

“The Huntsman: Winter’s War” is the sequel to “Snow White and the Huntsman”. Actually, it’s a prequel/sequel; or to be more specific, if “The Huntsman” was an ice cream sandwich, “Winter’s War” would be the chocolate wafers.

This film is a magical tale that testifies to the power of love. Charlize Theron reprises her role as Ravenna, along with Chris Hemsworth as The Huntsman. Oddly, Snow White is not in this film; though, she is referenced and Ravenna still wants her dead.

The prequel part

Charlize Theron is joined by Emily Blunt, who plays her sister Freya. This sets up Freya’s descent into evilness as she runs off and creates an ice palace, gathering up an army. Her powers are fun to watch. The visuals on her effects, like the way she turns anything she wants into ice or can create ice walls, was well done.

But when Freya left Ravenna, the story detoured from the two sisters. Unfortunate, because I found the  relationship interesting and wanted to see more of it. Instead, the the story moved on to set up Freya’s rule, which in turn sets up how The Huntsman came to be The Huntsman, which then introduced his love interest and fellow warrior, Jessica Chastain as Sara.

The lovebirds were trained to fight and kill for their queen. But love is forbidden in Freya’s kingdom and so events happen that find The Huntsman on the run.

Fast Forward to the sequel portion…

A lot has happened up to this point with a couple of different story lines: Freya and her sister, Freya building her army, Eric being The Huntsman and falling in love, Freya conquering lands, a mention of Freya’s sister and Snow White exists somewhere.

And now, The Huntsman needs to find the mirror before Freya does or else she will be even more unstoppable.

The search for the mirror plot point is rather thin. It felt more like giving The Huntsman something to do while building up his personal relationship, not because of his importance in the story as a hero, but more about what he and his relationship represents—which is that it’s crucial to Freya’s ultimate development. But Hemsworth does such a nice job in the role and he found a couple of fun dwarfs to help him out—even though the humor is more miss than hit.

And so he finds himself back at the ice palace and the theme of “love conquers all” solidifies itself. We are even left with this quote:

“But even buried under ice and snow, love survives”

“The Huntsman: Winter’s War” excels in its character interactions and conflicts. The action and visuals are good. But the story is a combination of small plots sewn together that ends up feeling more like cliff notes instead of a denser tale, which left some story lines, mostly the two sisters, feeling underdevloped.

Score: 5/10