Now You See Me 2 film mapping and analysis

Now You See Me 2: film mapping

0:16 Summit Entertainment a lionsgate company
1:08 THIS SUMMER
1:28 YOU HAVEN'T SEEN
1:33 ANYTHING YET
2:11-2:13 Now You See Me 2
2:14-2:16
Jessie Eilsberg  Lizzy Caplan
Mark Ruffalo  Jay Chou
Woody Haroldson  Sanaa Lathan
Dave Franco  with Michael Caine
Daniel Radcliffe  and Morgan Freeman
2:16-2:20
story by ED SOLOMON & PETER CHIARELLI
screenplay by ED SOLOMON
directed by JON M CHU

JUNE 10

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Analysis of NYSM2

The trailer of Now You See Me: The Second Act seems to take a different take than its predecessor. The first film's trailer featured a bank heist in which an owner and/or supervisor of a French bank was transported from New York to Paris in just a few seconds through some kind of "magic". This then allowed the protagonists (four of the world's greatest magicians) to requisition cash from the bank's vault. The story then leads to our antagonist (Morgan Freeman) attempting to track them down and discover their secret to the bank heist's execution; with the police doing exactly the same thing.

The sequel sees Morgan Freeman return and a similar trick of someone being transported across country in an instant being part of the story. However, similarities end here. There is a change in cast among the protagonists, "The Four Horsemen" and the film's location. The story appears to now take place in China and New York rather than Paris and New York.

Most importantly however, the sequel's trailer has a layer of humour that was absent before. We see punchlines, potentially humorous scenes throughout and slightly less intensity than the first film's trailer. While Now You See Me 2 is still a Thriller/Action movie, there are a few conventions of a comedy in the trailer.

Firstly, there is the pause of the (non-diegetic, asynchronous) background music whenever a punchline is delivered; common in comedy movie trailers. The trailer also begins with a lightly-comedic scene of one of the Horsemen trying (and failing) to teach someone magic.

The pause in background music is not only used for humour, however. It is also used for tension (critical for a Thriller), with lines that are delivered by the antagonist (Morgan Freeman) also carrying a background music pause. This ensures that there is still a certain level of tension and a threat somewhat to the protagonists with this addition. The combination of humour and tension also makes the protagonist seem somewhat "cool" under the pressure of whatever situation the film presents. This could simply be because trailer is a compilation of the crew's best moments, but the trailer still portrays the characters in this way regardless.

Now You See Me: The Second Act has a film trailer that shows conventions present in an action, comedy and thriller production and this will hopefully see the film become just as successful as the first. The comedic scenes just have to avoid seeming forced to the audience and the cast change (most noticeably Isla Fisher's absence and Lizzy Caplan's appearance) should be as seamless as possible.