No Pleasure in this Treasure
Maybe I need to see the first one again, but in watching National Treasure 2, I found myself captivated by the mystery but infuriated by the characters, direction and the constant reinforcement of
unnecessary explanations. Movie by movie, Nic Cage degenerates into a parody of himself, making it more and more awkward to watch. The entire cast is fairly unlikeable, especially the über-annoying Riley. The fact that the movie ends with a personal scene with him, that has no weight or significance is telling as to what kind of movie NT2 is. And don’t get me started on Voight, the old coot.
Director Turtletaub knows how to construct set pieces but he doesn’t know how to film them. During tense scenes, he concentrates on shots UNDERNEATH the action and even worse, at a climactic moment he cuts away from what could have been a memorable action sequence. BOO!
Yet all of this is almost forgivable if you don’t insult me. Unfortunately, screenwriting couple “The Wibberlings” throw in one too many exposition-laden explanations taking what otherwise could be
slick scenes and making them lame. And the story, while kudos to the research, is full of fairly large holes… Like why does the President change his story by the film’s end when he could have offered that explanation ron the beginning and saved everyone the heartache.
Glad I saw it for free and it’s harmless, but I expect more from my adventure hunter movies. You hear me, Indiana Jones? I say that because there’s a new Indy film coming this summer (that’s how the Wibberlys write).
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OpenCritic
How can a script with so much historical info crammed into it – clearly researched – how can something with so many smart things in it be so dumb? DUMB. There is more of “the factor” in this than anything in recent memory. If there was a scene of Nic Cage taking a dump, one of the characters would be required to say, “if he doesn’t flush this whole place will smell!”
If there was a shot of someone turning off a light, right before the switch is flipped someone would surely say, “hold on, it’s gonna get dark…right after that switch is flipped….right now!…it’s dark! Because he flipped the switch!”
Another main problem is, you just don’t…you just CAN’T feel for or care about any of the characters that surround Nic.
The main facts that sum this up =
– the last shot is of returning lovable sidekick “Riley” crashing his car.
– The screenplay is by “The Wibberleys”
– The Book of Secrets is never once referred to as “the book of secrets”
– Jon Voight is like a digital creation and loks more and more like Grandmas Inez as the film goes on.
– “The Wibberleys”
Also- i’m not too thrilled that the first four notes of Luke & Leia’s theme from Episode 6 have been “borrowed” to become the theme of “the city of gold”.
– The Wibberleys