Now You See Me 2

In Now You See Me 2, the Four Horsemen (Eisenberg, Harrelson, Franco, and Caplan) return, elevating the limits of stage illusion to new heights and taking them around the globe. One year after outwitting the FBI and winning the public's adulation with their Robin Hood-style magic spectacles, the illusionists resurface for a comeback performance in hopes of exposing the unethical practices of a tech magnate. The man behind their vanishing act is none other than Walter Mabry (Radcliffe), a tech prodigy who threatens the Horsemen into pulling off their most impossible heist yet. Their only hope is to perform one last unprecedented stunt to clear their names and reveal the mastermind behind it all. (Gary Reber)

Special features include commentary by Director Jon M. Chu; the featurettes The Art Of The Ensemble (HD 21:11), You Can't Look Away (HD 17:14), and Bringing Magic To Life (HD 16:09); upfront previews; and an Ultra Violet digital copy.

The 2.40:1 1080p AVC picture was digitally photographed using primarily the Arri Alexa XT Plus camera system, with some segments produced with the Red camera. The color palette is stylishly saturated, which at times is quite striking, with hues that pop with richness and warmth. Still, poor contrast can unnaturally darken a scene with crushed black and poor shadow delineation. Bright highlights are contrasty but the imagery otherwise remains veiled. Fleshtones are often wanting in naturalness, due to the dark, drab nature of the rendering. Resolution is generally excellent, especially during close-ups of facial features, hair, clothing, and objects and their textures. At times clarity is impressive, whether in wide shots in Macau or Manhattan. Overall, the imagery appears stylistically crushed and drab but often exhibiting visual highlights that enhance the otherwise drab contrast. While not a stellar picture, it is generally engaging due to the color saturation. (Gary Reber)

The Dolby Atmos/Dolby TrueHD 7.1-channel’s soundtrack is dynamic sounding throughout, with an expansive soundfield and aggressive directionalized surrounds. A safe dropping into deep waters in two segments is quite real sounding. An opening scene of The Eye speaking to one of the Horsemen in a sewer setting effectively uses the height channels. The .1 LFE is often energized with powerful deep bass at sub-25 Hz frequencies. The action scenes are propelled with high-energy atmospherics and sound effects that are spatially dimensional. Actually, there is virtually non-stop surround envelopment that is often quite aggressive. The orchestral music score also is quite active and occupies a wide and deep soundstage that extends aggressively to all four surround channels. Dialogue is intelligible but mostly wanting in spatial integration, as it is ADR processed. Overall, this is a high-energy and dynamic holosonic® soundtrack with powerful deep bass and aggressively directionalized surrounds that is complexly pleasing and engaging. (Gary Reber)