Cinema as an art form leans on deception and misdirection just as heavily as any stage magician. But a curious thing happens when you try and show performed magic in a movie – the illusion is cancelled out and the mystery evaporates. Sleight of hand means nothing when the real magic happens in post-production. This is just one of the problems with this sequel to the conjurors-turned-criminals caper movie, Now You See Me. Called out of hiding to steal a computer chip (handily the exact size and shape as a playing card), the Four Horsemen ( a team of maverick magicians) devise a needlessly complicated series of bluffs and double-bluffs, which is then unpicked during huge chunks of shouty, self-congratulatory exposition. By which point, the audience is longing for someone to saw the cast in half. Permanently.
