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National Treasure 2:
Book of Secrets
Directed by: Jon Turteltaub
Starring: Nicholas Cage
Genre:
Action/Adventure
Run Time: 124
min.
Release Date:
December 2007
On The Web:
Official
Site
Teaser:
Movie Trailer
Reviewed by
Byron Merritt |
I admit that watching the
first NATIONAL TREASURE movie was a guilty pleasure, but here
ends my enjoyment of anything National or Treasure. Sequels are tough to
pull off (can anyone say “INDIANA
JONES 4?”) and one has to wonder why Hollywood continues
to pump them out even when the script fails on almost every level ...and
such was the case with National Treasure 2.
If anyone can tell me how finding this new treasure helped solve the
Gates family’s problem related to their relatives’ association with the
Lincoln assassination, please let me know. Because that was what this
film was all about, right? I mean, we start off with Thomas Gates (Joel
Gretsch, THE LEGEND OF BAGGER VANCE) being approached by the men who set
up President Lincoln’s assassination, who in turn kill Thomas for
refusing to give up the secrets to an ancient language in a document
they have. We then move on to the current day where this document comes
to the attention of the Gates family by the sinister Mitch Wilkinson (Ed
Harris) who presents his evidence that Thomas Gates was the mastermind
behind Lincoln’s death. So Ben Gates (Nicholas Cage,
GHOST RIDER), his
father Patrick (Jon Voight,
TRANSFORMERS), Ben’s estranged wife Abigail
(Diane Kruger) and Ben’s trusty friend and sidekick Riley (Justin Bartha,
FAILURE TO LAUNCH) head out to clear the family name by finding the lost
treasure of pre-America. But how, exactly, this will clean-up their
family name isn’t clear ...or even explained. A pretty big hole in the
story’s central plot.
This plot hole combined with everything we’ve already seen in the
previous NATIONAL TREASURE film makes this second installment tedious
and full of non-surprises.
The only positive spin the film can claim is Justin Bartha’s Riley
character who infuses almost all of the comedy by having a monopoly on
the best lines (“Ben, if it were you trying to convince me, you'd have
less evidence and I'd already believe you by now.”).
But that’s it. Even the dastardly character Mitch Wilkinson (Harris)
doesn’t stay dastardly; only moments before he turns “good” he was
holding a knife to Ben’s mother’s neck (Helen Mirren,
THE QUEEN), making
his character completely unbelievable now. Gah!
National Treasure 2 is a true disaster, with such poor characterization
and plotting that it makes the entire film feel like it’s laced with
fool’s gold with nary a piece of treasure in sight.
(back to top) |
Image from National
Treasure 2: Book of Secrets
DVD cost: $12.86
Purchase:
Tower.com
Film Review Stew
Favorite? No.
Stew Poo-Poo? No.
Newsworthy:
The code seen in Booth's
Diary is an actual text encoded with the Playfair method using the
keyword DEATH. The complete text says: "La Boulaye lady will lead to
Cibola temples of gold."
Movie Quote: "So
let's recap: We've broken into Buckingham Palace, and the Oval Office,
stolen a page from the President's super-secret book, and actually
kidnapped the President of the United States. What are we gonna do next,
short-sheet the Pope's bed?"
Other Actors/Actresses
from National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets
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