Now You See Me 2 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the score album to the 2016 film Now You See Me 2 directed by Jon M. Chu; a sequel to Now You See Me (2013) and the second instalment in the eponymous film series. Brian Tyler composed the musical score which was released through Varèse Sarabande on June 10, 2016, along with the film.
Development Brian Tyler composed the film's score, after he did the same for the first film, which provided a culmination of 1960s spy action film music inspired from Henry Mancini and Lalo Schifrin's works and fantasy film scores (such as Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings). He wanted to expand the theme on the sequel by bringing those characters back to the universe, but also make it grander and epic as the film was set in various places. This resulted in the funky musical style being funkier and the drums, bass and jazz elements being more tweaked.
Tyler who also likes to do magic as a hobby, wanted to do the same with the music, providing a counterpoint to the theme that he had modified. He said, "Where you typically hear a crescendo dropped into a big theme, I would crescendo and modulate into something that almost makes no sense as a follow-up. There's a little bit of musical strangeness to it. If you throw things that are unexpected, to me that's what makes tricks fascinating. It does play with your perceptions and misdirect is a great part of it." The score was recorded at the Abbey Road Studios in London with Tyler conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
Critical reception Filmtracks.com wrote "the sequel score is extremely faithful to its predecessor and throws enough new paint at the wall to keep you entertained. But Now You See Me 2 remains wildly inconsistent in direction, exploring many ideas without desired development, perhaps in an effort to deal an appropriate dose of musical misdirection at the plot. The fantastic arrangement of the main theme at the start of the album is not to be missed and is superior to anything else in either score." Sheri Linden of The Hollywood Reporter wrote "Brian Tyler's otherwise overstated score, click when the Horsemen are doing their magic." Pete Simons of Synchrotones wrote "Tyler reprises the jazzy heist music, the frantic string ostinati, the percussion and that wonderful main theme [...] there's no denying the quality of the music; the composition and orchestrations. It's fantastic. As good as the first, maybe even better."
Track listing
Personnel Credits adapted from liner notes.
Music – Brian Tyler Producer – Brian Tyler, Joe Lisanti Arrangements and programming – Evan Duffy, John Carey, Pakk Hui, Sarah Schachner, Stuart Michael Thomas, Tony Morales Recording engineer – Simon Rhodes Score recordist – Gordon Davidson Mixing – Brian Tyler, Greg Hayes Mastering – Patricia Sullivan Score editor – Joe Lisanti Assistant score editor – Kyle Clausen Musical assistance – M. R. Miller, Merissa Fernandez Music co-ordinator – Seth Glennie-Smith Executive producer – Robert Townson
Orchestra Performer – The Philharmonia Orchestra of London Orchestration – Brad Warnaar, Dana Niu, Robert Elhai Conductor – Brian Tyler Concertmaster – Sarah Oates Orchestra contractor – Paul Talkington Copyist – Ann Barnard, Jill Streater, Eric Stonerook
Instruments Guitar, electric bass, drums, keyboards and percussion – Brian Tyler Piano – Brian Tyler, Evan Duffy
References