National Treasure: Book of Secrets finds Ben Gates and his crew back at it again. Another treasure. Another underground kingdom. Some new additions however, to this long awaited sequel: Ben's mother comes along for the ride, which took us to some new locations, such as Buckingham Palace, Paris, and the Black Hills of South Dakota.
As you can guess from the article's title, I was a bit dissapointed with BoS. Don't get me wrong, I did not hate it, not by any stretch of the imagination, but I definately found the unnecessary flaws in the film distracting. Perhaps it was Cage's horrific acting getting to me (it makes one wonder how he got into the business - I'm sure it had nothing to do with his uncle being Francis Ford Coppella). But I'm positive the weak plot had something to do with it.
The film starts off wonderfully, a flashback to the 19th century and the aftermath of the Civil War. Thomas Gates, Ben's great-great something get's thrown into the assassanation plot of Lincoln when Booth has him interpret a cypher. The cypher allegedly gives the directions to a massive hidden treasure stored by the Confederates. Basically, Gates refuses and gets killed... years later the story of his ancestor's bravery is passed down all the way to Benjamin Franklin Gates.
Present Day: Gates is giving a presentation/lecture about the aforementioned story, when our film antagonist Wilkinson (Ed Harris) steps forward and claims that Thomas Gates was in fact part of the assassantion all along. And there it is... the driving plot! Ben is determined to prove his ancestors innocence (even though its not like he's going to get put to death because of it) and brings alongs his "team." His father is spurned to join with his son in this adventure out of his devotion to the family name. Riley is of course, looking for something to do, and Ben even manages to bring along the ex - Abigail.
So there it is, although it may seem like a weak driving storyline for the rest of the film, the hype and adrenaline of the movie's beginning shadow that small detail.
So for the next hour and half you are in for some great puzzle solving, car chases, and, of course, treasure hunting. So here is where the pros come in I guess we could say.
- Car chase in London, well done for the Disney type movie it was.
- The mom - Helen Mirren pulls it with some humor and wit, yet still adding dimension to her character... unlike her son... that is in the movie.
- Back in the states: Probably my favorite part of the movie! After Ben leaves London, he needs to travel to the White House, and ultimately, kidnaps the President. While i was watching this hole arc of the film, I was brought back to the first movie. But it was not as if they had just copied something from the first movie, it was like they (the writers) just remembered what made some many people love the first movie.
- The Library of Congress... just pure fun.
- Riley: once again he makes everyone laugh. However a few times I noticed some jokes taken right out of the first movie... tisk tisk.
Now that I'm writing this down... I feel as if I'm remember alot more about the movie that I liked, which I figured might happen on a second watch. Usually for me sequels I need to see them a couple times to actually like them, since I'm thinking about all of the things from the original. Maybe it should be... "National Treasure: Book of a few Re-reads to finally Enjoy," yeah that sounds better.
Of the major cons in the film, one would be the rushed plot. But I've hinted at enough of that already and I dont want to say too much so you don't enjoy for yourself. Another one is the development of Wilkinson's character. He had the potential to be a real nasty villain, but at the end it was as if they couldn't decide to make him turn good or what! One minute he's threatening to kill them, the next helping them over a ledge... oh well....
Overall... good movie. But did it live up to its predecessor? Not for me it didn't. Maybe "National Treasure: Page 47" will, who knows?
The VERDICT: 6/10
I guess it is also significant to mention I got a sister for Christmas too... so yeah. The SWAG was SWEET.
