Thanks for checking out our National Treasure 2 review. When the first National Treasure film came out, my first reaction to it was mild. It wasn’t a “bad” film, as a matter of fact it had same very enjoyable qualities to it and I ended up being modestly entertained by it. Having said that the film also had its weaknesses, not the least of which was a nagging sense that the movie was just a cheap capitalization of the motif of The Da Vinci Code. Still, Sean Bean was in it and it certainly had it’s share of fun… so not too bad overall.
I must admit that I was surprised when I heard that a sequel was in the works. First of all the first one wasn’t really good enough to warrant one, nor did I think the box office returns were hight enough to coax studio executives into loosening up the purse strings. But for whatever reason the whole gang is back for National Treasure: Book of Secrets (not to be confused with Blair Witch 2’s Book of Shadows).
THE GENERAL IDEA
Nicolas Cage’s character is now quite famous for his discovery in National Treasure. On giving a lecture about the heroic efforts of his great great grandfather to prevent the South from winning the civil war, a new piece of evidence is brought to light by Ed Harris which implicates Cage’s great great grandfather as one of the conspirators in the assassination of President Lincon. This event begins the adventure for Cage and his father (again played by Jon Voight) to clear their family name. This adventure will take them to England, France and around the US discovering the secrets to the lost City of Gold that will ultimately vindicate their ancestor’s name.
THE GOOD
The movie is fun. The key to any sort of adventure film is to make the audience feel engaged in the character’s adventure on screen. I found National Treasure 2 did that. There is a good mix throughout the film of not only intellectual puzzle solving, but also of Indiana Jones type danger and action (not to mention a pretty good little car chase in it as well). Yes, some of these elements were a little too easy and a touch far fetched, but still… it’s the movies. The film did a fine job of making you feel like you were along for the ride, and on that level it really worked.
The characters are ultimately likable. Quirks and all, you LIKE Nicolas Cage’s character. You LIKE Voight. You even end up liking the sidekick quite a bit, and in a film that doesn’t take itself too seriously and is a little tongue in cheek, that’s REALLY important. It’s a silly little movie, and thus you need to like and feel invested a little in the people who are taking you for the ride. I especially liked Cage’s sidekick (played by Justin Bartha) who did play the stereotypical adventurers sidekick (doing the menial tasks, being a little bumbling, able to hack all the computers), but was also a little more substantial than that as well. He was a more well rounded character than the usual sidekick roles which was nice.
Solid supporting cast in the movie. Helen Mirren, Jon Voight, Ed Harris, Harvey Keitel and one of my absolute favorite character actors Bruce Greenwood fill out their roles very nicely. No Oscar nominations forthcoming… but you certainly feel like you’re getting your $10 worth when that sort of a cast is put together.
THE BAD
As much as the adventure in the film was well played out on the screen, some of the HUGE leaps in reasoning were a little hard to swallow and thus speed bumped the movie for me. There are several parts in the movie where a cryptic clue is revealed, and Nicolas Cage just makes the most wild, out of no where connections that ultimately are always correct and lead him exactly to where he needs to be next. These types of films (like “who done its”) are always more satisfying when the audience member has the potential of figuring out the mystery along the way (not that they have to figure it out… but when the mystery is revealed they could slap their heads because they COULD have figured it out), the answers Cage comes up with are so out of left field that it makes the audience feel like a sideline spectator, instead of being on the adventure as well. This was a problem throughout the whole movie.
I’ve already mentioned the supporting cast and how seeing them all up there alone makes you feel like you’re getting your money’s worth… HOWEVER… if you’re going to amass that calibre of talent… GIVE THEM SOMETHING TO DO! You’ve got these Oscar winners walking around on screen playing characters that do next to nothing in the film, and what little there was to do for them, it was so shallow that they didn’t even really need to act the scenes out. Especially wasted were Helen Mirren and Keitel. I’m not saying change the story to give them more meat per se… but why put Keitel in there in the first place if some newbie actor could have played the same role just as well?
I like Diane Kruger… but she was just painful to watch in this film. I have no idea why she came off the way she did in it… but every line she had to deliver, and every facial expression she had to make made me feel like I was watching some half assed high school play that wasn’t rehearsed very well. I realize that sounds harsh, but it’s the truth. It was like I was watching the dreadful Thawndie Newton. I’ve seen her do better, and I trust we won’t see her this bad again… but she did drop the ball in this one.
OVERALL
Wasted major league talent and unrealistic puzzle solving aside, National Treasure: Book of Secrets does what it seems to set out to be, a light, easy, fun little adventure movie with some laughs along the way. The characters are likable, the adventure wasn’t too grand scale, and the ending satisfying. Certainly not a cinematic classic, and certainly no Indiana Jones, but in the end a more than serviceable Saturday afternoon movie. Overall I give National Treasure 2 a 7 out of 10.
YOU CAN WATCH THE VIDEO REVIEW HERE
