Ok, National Treasure 2...

I may be wrong, but when I go to see a sequel I don't expect to see a carbon copy of the previous movie. I go to see characters I care about developed more, to see potentially unexplored plot points explained, to see something more than what I got in the first film.

Well, National Treasure 2 is basically the exact same film as National Treasure 1.



There was a treasure hidden somewhere hundreds of years ago that was going to be used by a nefarious organization but it got lost along the way. The only way to find it is to follow a bunch of clues that are hard to find and figure out. Each clue leads us to another clue that is also hard to find and figure out. The clues are hidden in famous places that are hard to get access to so now the law is chasing us. There is a bad guy following the good guys and counting on them to figure out the clues so he can claim the treasure for himself at the end. As we get close to the treasure we must navigate our way through a rotten wood staircase/structure that threatens to drop us to our death. Eventually we find the treasure after illuminating a room when we touch our torch to a pool of oil. After we find the treasure, we must find a way out because the crumbling staircase has trapped us underground. In the end we all get rich and famous and the law decides not to send us to jail for all the bad stuff we did along the way.

Oh
My
God!!!



It is not that NT2 is bad, it is just that I got bored of doing the exact same stuff all over again. There was nothing new here. The movie lacks the heart, originality, and excitement of the first one. My 8-year-old son said in the car ride home that he was bored because he knew nothing bad would happen to the main characters. He said he wants to see a movie that does not have a "and everyone lived happily ever after" ending, which I thought was very astute of him.



Hellen Mirren is wasted and does little more than fret and worry about Nic Cage getting hurt. The comic relief from Cage's nerdy assistant is mostly funny and provides some nice moments. Ed Harris is a confusing bad guy who is neither bad nor good and the resolution of his character really did not satisfy me at all (I'd like to discuss this with folks once some of the rest of you have seen the movie). It is also worth noting that Nic Cage's forehead has grown by about 8 inches since the last film and he looks really old.

It may sound like I am trashing the film, and I don't mean to do that. It is not horrible and I bet some people will really enjoy it. I just felt "been there, done that" was the theme of the movie and I had hoped for something fresh and new.

I must add that before the movie came on there was a Disney cartoon that aired. It starred Goofy and was the story of Goofy getting a new home theater system to watch football. It was hysterical and I laughed out loud at least a dozen times. I would gladly watch that cartoon again. I would not bother to watch NT2 again.



-Jason "my advice for this weekend-- buy tickets to Charlie Wilson but get to the theater in time to sneak into NT2 in time to watch the 5 minute Goofy short and then go see Charlie Wilson" Evans