Our panel … Will Houstoun, Laura London, Sylar and Katherine Mills Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian Laura London Did it remind me of my own experiences? There was that one time I was asked to use magic to help steal valuable information from a highly reclusive multi-millionaire. There are also nods to groups such as Siro-A and a role for the genre of card flourishing, which has recently surged in popularity thanks to performers like Dan and Dave Buck or the Virts.Īt its core, Now You See Me 2 is about using magic for some purpose other than the simple performance of a trick. Any magic fan should also recognise references to effects and ideas from contemporary performers such as Dynamo and Derren Brown. There were numerous references to real historical tricks, such as the three-card street scam and the challenge escape. I know several wonderful real-life female magicians, but the thing that makes them wonderful is the magic they do, not the fact they are female. Having said that, it was a shame that her major characteristic was gender. There have been many wonderful female magicians so it was good to see a woman in a lead magical role. The fact that the magic in Now You See Me 2 is not real seems no more upsetting than the fact the Dory in Finding Nemo is not a real fish. Magic doesn’t work particularly well in most mediated forms so if you want to see great magic then a live show is the answer. There was a massive amount of CGI, though I would say this is no bad thing. But the scene with a memory card demonstrates some real skill from all the actors, flicking a card around their bodies and from one person to another in astonishing ways. One can’t help wishing its writers had never heard of the idea of hypnosis. One thing the film might have more fully explored is the passion magicians have for ingenious problem-solving. I’ve lost count of the number of times strangers have gone well out of their way to help for no reason other than a shared love of conjuring. It also reflects the kindness that is found in the world of magic as the Horsemen find themselves lost in Macau but are welcome in the local magic shop. Richard Wiseman once joked that the world of magic is like one big family – a really dysfunctional one – and something of that dysfunction is captured in the film. Now You See Me 2 was enjoyable as a light-hearted heist movie that doesn’t expect to be taken too seriously. He performs, teaches and have been consulted for TV and film Dr Will Houstoun, the Magic Circle’s close-up magician of the year, has a PhD in historic magic.
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