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Title: National Treasure: Book of Secrets
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Okay, folks, just a heads up: I’ve officially calmed down in my hatred for sequels. “National Treasure: Book of Secrets” is nothing more then more franchise milking from well respected studio, but it comes out long after my tolerance for sequels peaked in August, with “Rush Hour 3.” That doesn’t make this movie better per se, but it does mean I can watch it without the sense of “here we go again.” The story: Ben Gates (Nicolas Cage) is back in the spotlight, as the world famous treasure hunter who found a lost treasure. Maybe you heard about it? Well, in case you didn’t fear not, there’s a new treasure to find. This time the search is initiated when a mysterious man, Mitch Wilkinson (Ed Harris, in a role that is likely to be passed on come Oscar time), comes to Gates with a mysterious page from a lost diary.
On this page are words that suggest that Ben’s great, great grandfather may have helped plan the assassination of President Lincoln. This devastates Ben, and he and his father (Jon Voight) head off to find a new treasure to prove his great, great grandfather innocent. Personally though, if some guy came up to me and told me my great, great grandfather planned the assassination of one of the nations greatest presidents, I’d simply shrug with an unsympathetic “So?” Really, considering the time period and the fact that no one would really care about this, I feel this is a pretty weak way to start the chain of events. Course, there are people who still firmly believe the South should have won the Civil War, so maybe the issue is more sensitive then I’m giving credit. Oh well, if I didn’t care about premise, I guess I cared less about the execution.
This is the sort of movie that throws a bunch of unbelievable situations at you that leave you feeling, strangely enough, fairly indifferent to everything. Car chases? Check! Clues found in odd places? Check! FBI involvement? Check! Oh heck, the climax of the film is the exact same, with a rickety bridge being replaced with a rickety rock, and the treasure room being flooded once more. Because we need the main characters fighting, the producers split up Ben and his wife at the beginning of the film for the sole purpose of having them bicker and fall in love all over again. Why can’t producers trust their characters to have good chemistry without fighting? Is this what we teach kids these days? Never mind.
I guess I should point out that the movie is preceded by a Goofy cartoon about how to hook up a high definition TV. I guess I should also point out this cartoon is far more clever and inventive then anything in this movie. “National Treasure: Book of Secrets” may not be a boring movie, but its uninspired. Everything feels like “been there, done that, don’t really care anymore,” and this is on top of the fact that everything that happens happens so conveniently. Oh, need a clue, pull one out of a random book that leads you to ANOTHER clue! I'd like to officially nickname this movie "National Treasure: Screenplay of Convenience." On average, it’s a two star movie. I’ve removing half a star though since this movie is, basically, exactly the same as the first one.
P.S. If the following review sounded boring, average, and with a tone that suggested I didn't really want to be wasting my time writing it...well, it's all true.
- -Review By Kevin T. Rodriguez- -