Now You See Me 2
Summit Entertainment | Release Date: June 10, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
46
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
10
Mixed:
15
Negative:
8
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Arizona RepublicRandy CordovaJun 9, 2016
The heists are bigger, the illusions are flashier, and the pace is quicker. Even the cast is livelier and more fun. Perhaps best of all, the movie captures the first film’s twisty ability to twirl an audience around, so you’re never entirely sure what’s happened until everything is explained. Read full review
80
VarietyOwen GleibermanJun 1, 2016
Now You See Me 2 is more like a giddy piece of cheese from the ’80s, a chance to spend two more hours with characters we like, doing variations on the things that made us like them in the first place. The revisit, in this case, is well-earned. Read full review
80
TheWrapDave WhiteJun 1, 2016
Director Jon M. Chu has a lighter touch than “Now You See Me” director Louis Leterrier. The latter’s “Transporter” pedigree made sure there was plenty of rugged action, but Chu’s résumé boasts “Jem and the Holograms,” “G.I. Joe: Retaliation,” and more than one film in the “Step Up” franchise. The man knows his cartoons, and that’s a good thing. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonJun 9, 2016
Working from a screenplay by Ed Solomon, director Jon M. Chu is more craftsman than poet, but the charismatic ensemble cast engages in the trickery with style. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyJun 8, 2016
Now You See Me 2 gets giddy on its own unreality. That sense of freewheeling excess extends from the chip heist — set in a metal-free clean room — to the nonstop contrivances and coincidences to the cast. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattJun 8, 2016
Jon M. Chu (several Step Up movies) has taken over directing duties from Louis Leterrier, and he has a lighter, goofier touch. He seems to get that the silliness is baked in. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Brad WheelerJun 9, 2016
In real life, of course, nobody can be hypnotized against their will. To be mesmerized is to willingly succumb. Just keep that in mind when you head off to see something like Now You See Me 2. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaJun 9, 2016
It's the magic of movies, not a movie that comes close to achieving real magic. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeMark FeeneyJun 9, 2016
“2” is as flashy and splashy as the original. Both also register right up there on the implausibility scale — that’s like the Richter scale, only with head scratching — but “2” has a lighter touch and more interesting settings. Macau and London, here we come. Read full review
63
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJun 9, 2016
The film is, at times, almost sinfully fun, assuming you have a taste for self-indulgently logic-free hedonism. Read full review
60
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottJun 10, 2016
Here's a movie that is far from perfect, far from seamless and far from unassailable. But it manages to be a fun diversion anyway -- and one that will likely leave audiences hungry for more. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJun 13, 2016
This time around, however, the magic has fizzled. Based solely on merit, Now You See Me 2 is a sequel that should never have been made. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzJun 10, 2016
There's not much awe showcased here. The film is mainly horseplay, wasted motion, and talk, talk, talk, with a few good action scenes. Read full review
50
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldJun 9, 2016
Try to remember this movie, a few days after seeing it, and you’ll find that — like magic — it’s disappeared. Read full review
50
ConsequenceClint WorthingtonJun 9, 2016
There are some marginal but still noticeable stylistic improvements in the sequel. John M. Chu (a veteran of music videos and Justin Bieber: Never Say Never) brings a peppy energy that Louis Leterrier’s first film lacked, especially when showing off the flashy spectacle of the Horsemen’s almost-superheroic magic abilities. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleDavid LewisJun 9, 2016
Your enjoyment of the movie will depend on whether you can suspend your disbelief — and confusion — and let the magic of misdirection wash over you. Read full review
50
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisJun 9, 2016
Everything is supersized and preposterous, but Mr. Chu, with two films in the “Step Up” franchise under his belt, is undaunted by crowds and confusion. Read full review
50
New York PostSara StewartJun 9, 2016
Thaddeus Bradley, narrating in tedious metaphors about how “there’s always more than what’s on the surface.” That’s one claim this shallow sequel simply can’t back up. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJun 9, 2016
Now You See Me 2 is more fun than "Now You See Me," which says something, I guess. It fits snugly in the long list of easygoing nothings, the narrative equivalent of a Fruit Roll-Up, designed to be forgotten in as many minutes as they took to watch. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter TraversJun 9, 2016
If you fell for the 2013 original — and surprisingly, many did — then Now You See Me 2 has got your number. For the rest of us, however, this longer, louder sequel adds up to what one character calls "a sack of nada." Read full review
50
Screen DailyTim GriersonJun 1, 2016
Doubling down on the giddily ridiculous tone of its predecessor, Now You See Me 2 is diverting, but the film’s rampant, cheeky cleverness — its ‘can you guess what’s going on?” coyness — ultimately proves tiresome. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenJun 1, 2016
Compared with the first film, this one embraces the premise’s essential preposterousness, although not necessarily to winning effect. Read full review
40
The TelegraphTim RobeyJul 14, 2016
Constructed to fool the viewer with layer upon layer of lame cheats and moth-eaten devices, the film has nothing on its mind but sinking you gently into an in-flight stupor. Read full review
40
EmpireChris Hewitt (1)Jun 27, 2016
It’s an impressively starry cast, but sadly, this lacks the charm, wit and, yes, magic of the original. You’ll like it, not a lot. Read full review
40
ScreenCrushE. Oliver WhitneyJun 14, 2016
Now You See Me 2 is an essential example of how inessential movie sequels have become. It ignores what was good about the first film, abandons its defining characteristics, and tells a story nobody asked for. Read full review
38
Movie NationRoger MooreJun 29, 2016
That score — insistent, sexy, jazzy and loud — almost puts it over, letting us skim over the ways the laws of logic and physics are violated, the lack of charisma of these “charismatic” magicians, the works. Until the ending, where it all feels like a cheap cheat and a waste of two hours and nine minutes of your life. Read full review
38
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJun 9, 2016
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. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineEd GonzalezJun 8, 2016
The sheer amount of people and incident indifferently presented throughout this film suggests only an obligation to quota-filling. Read full review
25
The Film StageBrian RoanJun 9, 2016
Now You See Me 2 is a vapid, heartless film that wastes the time of its cast and audience alike. Read full review
25
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallJun 9, 2016
For their next act, the illusionist con artists from Now You See Me will make every ounce of goodwill that movie earned disappear. Read full review
20
Time OutTomris LafflyJun 9, 2016
Excruciatingly incoherent. Read full review
20
Austin ChronicleJosh KupeckiJun 8, 2016
The deal-breaking problem with these films – among so, so many problems – is this: They don’t f--king ground the magic in any sort of reality, but rely on CGI for their showstoppers. Read full review
16
IndieWireDavid EhrlichJun 8, 2016
We used to watch movies and wonder “How did they do that?” The problem with Now You See Me 2 isn’t that we already know the answer, it’s that we’re not even inspired to ask the question. Read full review
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