Movie Review: National Treasure- Book of Secrets
Same as last time.
Having a sequel that is exactly like the original
is not always a bad thing, particularly when the first thing was a really good
thing.
I really enjoyed the first National Treasure movie, despite it being Disney and Nicholas Cage. I thought the ideas behind it, despite being a ripoff of that DaVinci book, were excellently thought out, unlike that DaVinci book. What made the first movie great was the intensity and the motivation of desperate times behind it. Everything happened "right here," and in places that were familiar to the American intellectual.
So, what was different about this sequel? Well, It's a year later, and Ben Gates has split up with Abigail and been kicked out of the huge house, moving in with his dad. Riley has lost his money ("Do you know what the taxes are on $5 million? $6 million.") and is hawking his book about finding the Templar treasure, but gets referred to constantly as "Ben's assistant."
OK, during a public lecture about his great grandfather's contribution to the American Civil War, Ben and his father, Patrick, are surprised when Mitch shows up with a page from the John Wilkes Booth diary listing Thomas Gates as one of the Lincoln conspirators. So, to bring back the former shine tot he Gates name, they have to find the treasure that Thomas Gates was hiding.
Meanwhile, Mitch is a treasure hunter, using Ben to hunt down the lost City of Gold.
Here's where the deviations start. Instead of being about an American treasure, this story takes us across the pond, first to France, then to England. ANd what happens there? It's all very single-minded... they find the clue and now it's time to go home. Sure, there is some witty repartee between Ben and the French police, and a marvelous vocal fight between Ben and Abigail in Buckingham Palace, and the really cook car chase through London, using the Police CCTV system to get a photograph of the clue before throwing it into the Thames. But that's it. Get the clues and fly home.
Once home, we meet Ben's mom, who split with Patrick 25, no, 32 years ago, and just happens to be able to translate pre-Columbian native American glyphs. Which is a good thing. Then, it turns out that the clue is really only half a clue, so they have to go to the White House, while no one is watching, to invade the Oval Office, only to discover that someone else has found the clue and put it in the Presidents' Book of Secrets, a book "For Presidents, by Presidents, and for the President's eyes only." So, Ben has to kidnap the President to get him to talk about the book that doesn't exist. At this point, Ben Gates gives his patriotic speech and convinces the President to let him look at the book.
In the end, everyone ends up at Mount Rushmore (the mountain with all the heads carved into it, for those of you out there who never studied anything). "Mount Rushmore was a cover-up." And, lo and behold, there really is a City of Gold. And everyone survives but one. I won;t tell you who. He dies saving the others.
In the final scene between Ben Gates and the President, the President asks Gates about a favor, something having to do with page 47.
Yep... like all other recent Disney projects, this one comes in threes. We are now waiting for National Treasure- Page 47.
What this movie lacks in cohesion, it makes up for in coziness. Ben and Abigail get back together, Patrick and mom get back together, and Riley gets a girl and his Ferrari. Uh oh, I think I just inadvertently told you who died... how to make that up... Ummm.. Oh! And Mitch brings honor to his family name.
Which brings up an interesting omission in the movie- the antagonist's motivation. Mitch Wilkinson is trying to make his family's mark in history by finding the lost City of Gold, but he does so by slandering the good name of the Gates family just to get Ben in on the hunt, since he couldn't just ask him. Yeah. Throughout the movie, there is an inferred relationship between Wilkinson and the Confederate cause. On occasion, Ed Harris, who plays Mitch, actually uses an almost convincing Southern accent. But no real connection is ever truly made, and then Gates says something completely out of the blue while underneath George Washington's nose at Mount Rushmore- "You need this treasure. And I know it." Something like that, meaning that Gates knows something about this guy that we don't. So, what is it? I have a theory.
His last name is "Wilkinson," which is not a far cry from "Wilkeson," or, "son of Wilkes." Which would make Wilkinson distantly related to John Wilkes Booth. He is trying to put his own family tree into a more honorable light than being connected with the most famous assassination ever. But no one ever says that. I think that is a 30 second clip on the cutting room floor that really needed to stay in the movie.
So, the bottom line: I give it 3 gold bricks out of 5, or 7 little golden men out of 10, depending on the mood I'm in. Rent it. It's worth the rent. Particularly if you watch the first one first in a double feature date night at home.
Wish I were there.
I really enjoyed the first National Treasure movie, despite it being Disney and Nicholas Cage. I thought the ideas behind it, despite being a ripoff of that DaVinci book, were excellently thought out, unlike that DaVinci book. What made the first movie great was the intensity and the motivation of desperate times behind it. Everything happened "right here," and in places that were familiar to the American intellectual.
So, what was different about this sequel? Well, It's a year later, and Ben Gates has split up with Abigail and been kicked out of the huge house, moving in with his dad. Riley has lost his money ("Do you know what the taxes are on $5 million? $6 million.") and is hawking his book about finding the Templar treasure, but gets referred to constantly as "Ben's assistant."
OK, during a public lecture about his great grandfather's contribution to the American Civil War, Ben and his father, Patrick, are surprised when Mitch shows up with a page from the John Wilkes Booth diary listing Thomas Gates as one of the Lincoln conspirators. So, to bring back the former shine tot he Gates name, they have to find the treasure that Thomas Gates was hiding.
Meanwhile, Mitch is a treasure hunter, using Ben to hunt down the lost City of Gold.
Here's where the deviations start. Instead of being about an American treasure, this story takes us across the pond, first to France, then to England. ANd what happens there? It's all very single-minded... they find the clue and now it's time to go home. Sure, there is some witty repartee between Ben and the French police, and a marvelous vocal fight between Ben and Abigail in Buckingham Palace, and the really cook car chase through London, using the Police CCTV system to get a photograph of the clue before throwing it into the Thames. But that's it. Get the clues and fly home.
Once home, we meet Ben's mom, who split with Patrick 25, no, 32 years ago, and just happens to be able to translate pre-Columbian native American glyphs. Which is a good thing. Then, it turns out that the clue is really only half a clue, so they have to go to the White House, while no one is watching, to invade the Oval Office, only to discover that someone else has found the clue and put it in the Presidents' Book of Secrets, a book "For Presidents, by Presidents, and for the President's eyes only." So, Ben has to kidnap the President to get him to talk about the book that doesn't exist. At this point, Ben Gates gives his patriotic speech and convinces the President to let him look at the book.
In the end, everyone ends up at Mount Rushmore (the mountain with all the heads carved into it, for those of you out there who never studied anything). "Mount Rushmore was a cover-up." And, lo and behold, there really is a City of Gold. And everyone survives but one. I won;t tell you who. He dies saving the others.
In the final scene between Ben Gates and the President, the President asks Gates about a favor, something having to do with page 47.
Yep... like all other recent Disney projects, this one comes in threes. We are now waiting for National Treasure- Page 47.
What this movie lacks in cohesion, it makes up for in coziness. Ben and Abigail get back together, Patrick and mom get back together, and Riley gets a girl and his Ferrari. Uh oh, I think I just inadvertently told you who died... how to make that up... Ummm.. Oh! And Mitch brings honor to his family name.
Which brings up an interesting omission in the movie- the antagonist's motivation. Mitch Wilkinson is trying to make his family's mark in history by finding the lost City of Gold, but he does so by slandering the good name of the Gates family just to get Ben in on the hunt, since he couldn't just ask him. Yeah. Throughout the movie, there is an inferred relationship between Wilkinson and the Confederate cause. On occasion, Ed Harris, who plays Mitch, actually uses an almost convincing Southern accent. But no real connection is ever truly made, and then Gates says something completely out of the blue while underneath George Washington's nose at Mount Rushmore- "You need this treasure. And I know it." Something like that, meaning that Gates knows something about this guy that we don't. So, what is it? I have a theory.
His last name is "Wilkinson," which is not a far cry from "Wilkeson," or, "son of Wilkes." Which would make Wilkinson distantly related to John Wilkes Booth. He is trying to put his own family tree into a more honorable light than being connected with the most famous assassination ever. But no one ever says that. I think that is a 30 second clip on the cutting room floor that really needed to stay in the movie.
So, the bottom line: I give it 3 gold bricks out of 5, or 7 little golden men out of 10, depending on the mood I'm in. Rent it. It's worth the rent. Particularly if you watch the first one first in a double feature date night at home.
Wish I were there.
Posted: Sat - February 9, 2008 at 02:05 PM
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Published On: Feb 09, 2008 02:05 PM
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Published On: Feb 09, 2008 02:05 PM