Movie Review: National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets

The follow up to the hit Disney film may not have been originally planned, but was nonetheless enjoyable. Released in 2007 National Treasure 2 focuses on another war with secrets, legends and once again an impossible crime has to be pulled off. Spoilers ahead as usual. I DO NOT OWN THE PICTURE.

A couple of years after the first film Ben Gates (Nicholas Cage) is living with his dad Patrick (Jon Voight) after he and Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger) broke up while Riley Poole (Justin Bartha) is a not exactly successful author. Ben and Patrick are at a Civilian Heroes conference accepting for Ben’s great great grandfather Thomas Gates who died the same day as President Lincoln destroying parts of John Wilkes Booth’s diary and perhaps preventing Booth and his conspirators from the Knights of the Golden Circle from decoding a message hidden within the pages. However Mitch Wilkinson (Ed Harris), a black market antiquities dealer, provides what seems to be one of the missing pages from Booth’s diary with Thomas’s name on it claiming Thomas was not only one of the conspirators but was the mastermind behind Lincoln’s assassination. Ben, along with Patrick, Abigail, Riley, FBI agent Sadusky (Harvey Keitel) and Ben’s mother, Patrick’s ex-wife Emily (Helen Mirren) set out to prove this is not true. Traveling all over the world and discovering clues Ben and the team discover that the message hidden in Booth’s diary may be leading to Cibola, the legendary city of gold, and the key to finding it may be hidden in another legend: the President’s Secret Book which supposedly also contains many other conspiracies that may or may not be true. Ben decides in order to get to the treasure and to prove his ancestors’ innocence before Mitch can further drag his family’s name down he has to do another impossible task: kidnap the President (Bruce Greenwood). About as far as I should go without giving away the rest of the movie.

Now what I said a while back about sequels still stands (nine out of ten are not great), and this sort of proves it. National Treasure 2 for me was not as good as the first one for a majority of the film (Cage in particular if I have to be picky), but I still enjoyed the movie. With so many legends out there it probably wasn’t easy to come up with the right one, but I think the President’s Secret Book is one that may not be as well-known so whether or not it was the right call is debatable. The writing and acting could have been better in a few places, I think they were taking a more comedic routine in this one so that is a fault, but I do like how international the movie went. My last nit-pick is the conclusion. Obviously they were leaning towards making a third film, but it has been so long I somewhat doubt it will happen. I read somewhere that a script was finished, but Disney did not like it. I think if they were to do a sequel it is too little too late, unless it is a REALLY good script. Otherwise do not bother. As for this film if you liked the first National Treasure than by all means watch it, otherwise this probably should not be on your radar.

Movie Review: Disney’s National Treasure

A subject I did pretty decent with in school was history; more specifically for me at least the American Revolution. I always loved hearing the stories regarding General Washington, the Deceleration of Independence and so much more. Which is why I was very excited to see this 2004 Disney history/adventure movie. Even my mom was excited and she is not a huge Nicolas Cage fan. National Treasure added the element of treasure to the history of the American Revolution and boy did it make it fun. Spoilers ahead as always. I DO NOT OWN THE PICTURE.

Benjamin Franklin Gates (Nicolas Cage) has always been fascinated with a treasure supposedly hidden for centuries before being buried somewhere by the Founding Fathers during the American Revolution, at least that was the story his grandfather said when he was younger with the only clue given to his ancestor by a dying Charles Carol “The secret lies with Charlotte”. However after years of searching the Gates family name has gone down as crazy, but Ben refuses to give up wanting the find the treasure for a museum, and to clear the Gates family name. Along with his friends poker buddy Ian Howe (Sean Bean), sarcastic and tech savoy Riley (Justin Bartha) and some of Ian’s goons, Ben finds a ship called Charlotte in the Arctic which has a clue pointing to another possibly on the back of the Declaration of Independence. Ian wants to steal it, but Ben refuses knowing how high risk it will be; the greedy Ian desires the treasure for himself and doesn’t seem to care about destroying the Declaration. It causes a fight with Ian trapping Ben and Riley on the ship with gunpowder and fire, however the two men escape. Ben and Riley inform the FBI and the National Archives about Ian’s plans, but no one seems to believe them, especially Dr. Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger). Seeing no other option Ben deices to steal the Declaration in order to protect it. Reluctantly Riley agrees. Abigail joins in after realizing Ben is telling the truth and finally Ben’s father Patrick (Jon Voight) despite not believing in the treasure anymore. The four must soon avoid Ian and the FBI, specifically Agent Peter Sadusky (Harvey Keitel) in order to find the treasure.

When it comes to Disney’s live action movies this one is actually a personal favorite of mine not just for the history but for the action. I felt the acting was pretty good, writing could have been better is a few places, but overall National Treasure was a really good movie. Nicolas Cage is fantastic as Ben; I actually cannot imagine anyone else playing the part. The same goes with Justin Bartha as Riley; his sarcastic and dry humor steals the movie every time. Diane Kruger is also great as Abigail as she and Ben get closer as she realizes he is telling the truth. Jon Voight is perfect as Patrick as is Sean Bean as Ian (I would also like to point out this is one of the few movies he is in where he doesn’t die a spectacular death). A sequel was released a few years later, but that one is for another day. If you like heist movies, or any of the actors in here I would highly recommend National Treasure.

Movie Review: Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

I promised I would review this movie a long time ago and well it’s time I keep my word. Released in 1991 this is the Robin Hood movie everybody makes fun of, other than the Mel Brooks parody because it makes fun of everything. I actually like this movie, not enough to watch it over and over again like the Errol Flynn version but it isn’t too bad. Spoilers ahead. I DO NOT OWN THE PICTURE.

Escaping a prison in Jerusalem, Robin of Locksley (Kevin Costner) along with his friend Peter Dubois and another man, a Moor named Azeem (Morgan Freeman). Peter is shot and killed by an archer when making a last stand with Robin, but not before making Robin promise to look after his sister Marian (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) when he returns to England. Azeem joins Robin as he returns to England, having vowed to repay Robin for saving his life. However England is not the same since Robin left: his father has been killed by the Sheriff of Nottingham (Alan Rickman) who has been ruling England with an iron fist since King Richard left on his crusades, with the assistance of his cousin Guy of Gisbourne (Michael Wincott), corrupt Bishop of Hereford (Harold Innocent) and the witch Mortianna (Geraldine McEwan). Robin finds his family’s servant Duncan (Walter Sparrow) who has been blinded by the Sheriff’s men. Robin also reunited with Marian and informs her of her brother’s death, but she is more than capable of handling herself despite the attempts by the Sheriff to woo her. Fleeing the Sheriff’s forces Robin and Azeem run into Sherwood Forrest and meet a gang of outlaws, led by Little John (Nick Brimble) and Will Scarlet (Christian Slater), the latter whom does holds a grudge against Robin for a reason. Robin takes control of the group and convinces them to go after the Sheriff and take him down by stealing from his soldiers and distribute the goods among the poor. Friar Tuck (Mike McShane) joins the group while Marian helps out when she can. The Sheriff soon becomes obsessed with destroying Robin Hood. About as far as I can go without spoiling the rest of the movie.

While this is not the best version of Robin Hood I did not think this movie was too bad. I have seen Kevin Costner in better movies, and let’s be honest he’s the reason why many make fun of this movie. Morgan Freeman is good in pretty much all he does and this movie was no exception. Mastrantonio is decent as Maid Marian, but she is not the most memorable part of the movie. I enjoyed Slater as Scarlet as well as Brimble and McShane as John and Tuck respectively, but of course the standout performance is Alan Rickman as the Sheriff. He is evil, funny and a joy to watch; you can’t help but love him or hate to love him depending on how you look at it. Another reason why this movie is so famous is because of one song. The theme for this movie is “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You” by Bryan Adams. I love this song, I swear anytime it’s on the radio I always listen to it. The song was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song, but it did win the Grammy. It is very romantic sweet and, what my mother calls, sappy. If you want to watch Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves then by all means go ahead, but I wouldn’t put it too high on the must watch list.