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National Treasure: Book of Secrets - Movie Review Hot

Movie Reviews

Release Date: December 21, 2007
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures
MPAA Rating: PG
Genre: Action • Adventure
Director: Jon Turteltaub
Writers: Cormac Wibberley, Marianne Wibberley, Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Justin Bartha, Diane Kruger, Jon Voight, Helen Mirren, Ed Harris, Harvey Keitel, Bruce Greenwood
Synopsis: In this follow up to the box-office hit "National Treasure," treasure hunter Ben Gates (NICOLAS CAGE) once again sets out on an exhilarating, action-packed new global quest to unearth hidden history and treasures.
When a missing page from the diary of John Wilkes Booth surfaces, Ben's great-great grandfather is suddenly implicated as a key conspirator in Abraham Lincoln's death. Determined to prove his ancestor's innocence, Ben follows an international chain of clues that takes him on a chase from Paris to London and ultimately back to America. This journey leads Ben and his crew not only to surprising revelations - but to the trail of the world's most treasured secrets.
The Review: Your Critic for the Evening: Michael Dayspring
Nicolas Cage makes a lot of movies, so statistically speaking ever so often one of them has to be good...right?

Well...It's been a long dry season in Cage country.

For those of you, who LOVED the first National Treasure, just skip reading this review now. I promise you that if you loved the first one, you will love this one too. This is for the rest of you who are unsure if you want to see National Treasure: Book of Secrets.

Let me just launch right into this one if I may; some films are meant to totally and utterly suspend
disbelief for the entire span of the film. Other films are grounded in reality and have to work to WOW you with the wonderment of the twists and turns of the plot. Not something you can really be on the fence about when laying out a plot. Oh sure you can let things slide in the name of escapism but you not the entire film...not if you are going to firmly ground it in "historical reality".

Think of suspension of disbelief and escapism as muscles in your body for this exercise, and that each time something ludicrous happens during the film it forces you to use this muscle rigorously.

After about sixty minutes of this you will tire, you will get sore, and most of all you will get annoyed and count the minutes until its over and you can hit the showers and wash off the stink.

That is EXACTLY what watching National Treasure is like. You'll start off enjoying it and laughing at the little bits of comedy and enjoy the rush of a new thrilling discovery or bit of action and you'll start to kick back and enjoy the ride...and then those muscles will begin to feel the burn. You'll start to feel the exhaustion seeping in....and from there it's like being tied to the back of a tractor as it slowly drags you through a field of rusty nails.

But the movie isn't done with you yet, not by a long shot. During the course of the film not only will you be forced to believe that these people could break into Buckingham Palace, and slip into the White House...that they can kidnap the President of the United States as well...I wont even go into the fucktarded nature of how they pull this stuff off other than to say that its all done so effortlessly due to the fact everyone else on the planet is really really dumb and they are really really smart...which is EXACTLY how they treat the audience as well.

I wish I was kidding but as the movie heads to its climax (and I use the term loosely here) and your muscles give out you'll be annoyed at yourself for having enjoyed the first half of the movie and just want to throw in the towel.

But Granny Goose always told me I should always try to find something nice to say...so:

In front of this flick there is this AWESOME Goofy cartoon about hooking up your home theater system. No joke...HI-LARIOUS!! My advice sneak in and see the cartoon and go watch Walk Hard or Sweeny Todd.

Here's the rub; I like Nicolas Cage, I really do. He seems like the kind of guy I could hang out with and drink beer and talk comics. I was a fan of his work, and I thought Sean Penn was a tool for bashing an old friend like that. And then Nic just kept making horrible movie after horrible movie. Most of the time I just chalked it up to bad choices...happens to the best of us and unlike Nic ours are not up on a screen for all to see....the guy has done some phenomenal work so he's clearly got the talent. I even took the whole idea of him wanting to play Superman in stride...honestly WHO DOESN'T want to play the man of steel?

This is no rant against Nic, this is a plea for him to find a juicy role to sink his teeth into again. While I don't think of award shows as a real means to measure a persons talent, nevertheless take a look at his Awards page over on IMDB..it's that long for a reason dammit! The guys shown us mad skills on the screen.

Don't get me wrong, his movies generally do great business so he's no box office failure. All I'm suggesting is that he mix it up a bit...do the paycheck movie...then do the gritty indie flick to maintain the cred...rinse and repeat.
Rating: .5 out of 5

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