Reviews by Matt

Before you say anything, I am well aware that the following is not a new movie. Hell, it was not even released in the current year. Here is the thing, if you want to see the crap in the theater and review it for the paper, be my guest.
In fact, I welcome any review, so please do.

(fishing for submissions, no longer reserved for those gray boxes we pepper the paper with)

Any whoo, back to the review.

“National Treasure: Book of Secrets” is the follow up to the 2004 hit ““National Treasure.” This time, Ben Gates (Nicholas Cage) is faced with clearing his great grandfather’s name. Mitch Wilkinson (Ed Harris) has a piece of the diary of John Wilkes Booth, the man who assassinated President Lincoln, claiming that Ben’s great grandfather, Thomas Gates, was the mastermind behind the plot to kill the president.

Ben is determined to make sure his great grandfather was not forever remembered for killing one of the greatest men in America’s history. With the help of his friend Riley (Justin Bartha), ex-girlfriend Abigail (Diane Kruger) and his father (Jon Voight), he sets out to clear the Gates’ family name.

When faced with the dilemma of seeing a new movie that is going to make me plow my head through a window when the credits rolled or see a older movie that I know will be nothing special, but not be a waste of time, I will always choose the latter.

When I saw the first movie, I was pleasantly surprised. The idea of the founding fathers hiding clues in historical landmarks and historical documents was an interesting. That is part of the reason why I like the first one, but this one looked less at the history and was more about the treasure hunting. The basic elements were still there, but the history seemed secondary to the rest of the movie.



Overall the movie is nothing more then a popcorn flick. Little more is asked of the audience than to show up and sit down. It is mindless entertainment that can be a welcome escape from everyday life.



That being said, it is mediocre at best. The plot is shaky and some of the new characters are not completely developed, not that I went in expecting incredible character development. It had it comedic moments, dramatic moments and even a few “wow” moments, but it failed to impress.

If the Oscar contenders do not strike your fancy, or in my case, you are hard pressed to find a local theater playing the Oscar nominated movies you actually want to see, then this is a worthy substitute.

7 out of 10
Rated PG for some violence and action.
2 hrs 4 mins