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John Turteltaub, National Treasure: Book Of Secrets

by Stephanie Allerdice
12/21/2007

I have good news and bad news. The good news is that National Treasure: Book of Secrets is entertaining. The bad news is that it does not live up to its predecessor.

This more action-less intellectual sequel to National Treasure falls short of the Best Sequel award by a mile. The plot was interesting, but not well developed and at some points was a carbon copy of the first movie. And while sometimes it is fun to have wink and nudge scenes that mirror the original, it just seems cheesy here.

As opposed to actually having to figure out the clues like in the first film, treasure hunter Benjamin Gates (Nicholas Cage) and crew always just seem to have all the answers. The fun facts and patriotic passion of the first film has been replaced by two overdone car chases and a plot that seems disconnected from the overall idea of the movie.

Many of the new characters seemed superfluous and the familiar ones seemed to have had personality transplants. Riley Poole, the comedic sidekick in the first movie, is now merely a mindless tool. And Benjamin Gates tapped into his emotion chip only to find that it is malfunctioning. Even the brilliant Dr. Abigail Chase has been reduced to an air-headed caricature of the rousing character she once was. The only character that is mildly consistent in both movies is Patrick Gates (Jon Voight) and that is because he really doesn’t do much.

Helen Mirren plays Emily Appleton, Benjamin's mother. Mirren's performance seems substandard after her Oscar win for The Queen. However, this isn't really her fault since she doesn't have much to work with. Ed Harris is the (not really) mysterious bad man, Mitch Wilkinson. Without much back story, Harris’ character is hard to understand and doesn’t quite fit into the would-be evil role. However, Harris made a fine effort to breathe life into this lifeless role.

National Treasure: Book of Secrets will give you a few laughs but it in no way measures up to the original. But hey, maybe Bruckheimer can make it up to us in the inevitable third installment.

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