After three years the sequel of the first Now You See Me film has been released and with little fanfare it seems.

Released on June 10th, Now You See Me 2 has created little excitement among movie goers and critics alike. Sitting myself in the half empty cinema among mostly couples looking for something to do on  a Saturday night and a small group of teenage boys who had nothing else to do with their time, didn’t start the movie off with a great atmosphere. Nevertheless I was optimistic to see what the second instalment had to offer.

The movie begins and we are given a quick briefing of what took place in the first movie. Fast forward a year and the Horse Men are in hiding waiting instructions from the mysterious ‘Eye’. A new member of the group is introduced in the form of a sassy and witty character named Lula who replaces Henley Reeves who has left the group ( it was reported Isla Fishers was unable to return due to her pregnancy). Lula turns out to be the best part of the movie, offering a different dynamic to the Horse Men, something that wasn’t achieved first time round with Fishers.

This time the magicians must get hold of a device, that can be used to hold the personal information of anyone in the world, before it is handed over to the wrong hands. Daniel Radcliffe plays one of the baddies, a young and mildly crazy technology tycoon who (wait for it) doesn’t believe in magic but rather science (oh Harry). Overall the movie nailed the magic tricks, with studio effects helping to create slick and stylish performances. One scene was particularly good when one of the characters demonstrated to an audience how they could control the weather. What let down the movie was the lack of storytelling. It seemed that so much effort was gone into making the magic tricks look impressive that the actual plot was neglected. The film ended with many questions and there was no big ‘oh!’ or shock of realisation. It could be argued that the questions were being left there to make space for a possible sequel. But I still  left the cinema feeling the same way I did the first time round-unimpressed.