Very few things make me happier than the guilty pleasure of a bad action/comedy, especially ones starring Nicolas Cage. Even better is that this movie is a sequel making the claim that every president writes in a secret book!! How awesome is that? National Treasure was a fun romp that just wore out it's welcome, but due to the success at the box office I knew the day would come for this sequel. I also knew it was going to be the family Christmas movie, but I worried that it too would just be too long of a movie. Was it?Ben and Patrick Gates (Cage and Jon Voight) are talking about their forefather who they say helped keep the south from finding gold after the Civil war. However, Mitch Wilkinson(Ed Harris using a southern accent, some of the time) claims their forefather actually helped plan the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. He may even have been the mastermind. Out to prove Wilkinson wrong, The Gates family sets off on a treasure hunt to find what they believe to be a city of Gold. First they gather up the usual suspects, Riley Poole(A Pretty funny Justin Bartha) and Abagail(Diane Krueger). Abagail is resistant at first because she and Ben used to be lovers, but she knows deep down she still cares about him. Their quest takes them first to France, then to Buckingham palace and eventually to The Oval Office. The Free Masons left clues on everything they built and every clue leads closer to the treasure, but when they try to find the clue in the Oval Office it is gone and they are stuck. Never fear, every president writes in a Book of Secrets! And Ben Gates knows the perfect way to get a hold of it- Kidnap the President! Say what? Well The President turns out to be an understanding guy and he helps out Gates and soon The Gates family, Wilkinson, Poole and Abagail are all inside Mount Rushmore weaving through secret passages and crazy traps!
Much like the first one this movie has some good points, some ridiculous points and it has an ending that just goes on and on and on. Bartha gets a lot of laughs with his line delivery and honestly watching Nic Cage go nuts for no real reason is always good times! Some of the treasure stuff is fun and exciting, although we know no one is really in danger because this is a Disney Franchise and main Characters in Disney Franchises do not die, Just ask Jack Sparrow. It is never as exciting as it wants to be and it never ventures into new territory and while it features a fairly entertaining car chase, I felt like I had seen that car chase a dozen or so other times. I think that is the biggest problem with the movie- I have seen it all before and done better. Brenden Frazier makes a better comic foil than Nic Cage and Harrison Ford is certainly a better treasure hunter, but this movie will make a ton of money and the ending of this sets up for a third one that should leave the audience wondering "What's on page 47?" but all it did for me was make me wonder "Will Jack Sparrow come into play for the third one?"
John Turtletaub(The Director) has proven himself to me to be someone who can create tension and drama and even deliver action, at least on the small screen with Jericho, but he seems totally lost here. I am not sure if a bad rushed script is solely at fault or if Turtletaub gets bullied by Jerry Bruckheimer into doing things Bruckheimer's way, but all of the creativity of Jericho is missing here. Now I readily admit that my being sick may have hindered a bit of the comedy, but I did feel there were some very funny moments. For example Cage pretending to be drunk and mocking the English Police gave me some laughs. Also, I must mention Diane Krueger's breasts because they are the key focus of a 3 or 4 minute scene and they may be the best, most exciting and interesting things anywhere in the movie. Be warned that not only will you have to sit through 10 to 15 minutes of trailer, you will have to sit through an 8 minute animated short film starring Goofy trying to put together a home theater system.
Final Grade: C-
No comments:
Post a Comment