Neither hero nor villain had very much characterization.....

Rating: 7/10 (24 January 2005)

This film works. It's a fun action adventure/thriller/mystery with a dash of fascinating American history.
I loved the movie yet agree that neither hero nor villain had very much characterization. The real "characters" were Jon Voight as Cage's dad and Riley as the sidekick.
Both of them worked very well to provide emotional balance. As did one of the villain's sidekicks who exclaimed, after watching Cage kiss the babe while in dire danger : "Why doesn't that ever happen to me?" Made the evil guys seem more real too.
Also, both Cage and Sean Bean are so good to watch that we somehow believed they had character even tho the script didn't include much. I felt Ben was never in any real danger. There was no real or else factor or any type of consequence if he Didn't find the treasure. Sure he would've proved his father right, been a miserable disappointment, but thats not really strong enough of a consequence, and going to prison was just silly.
I compare this to Goonies because that film is also a treasure hunt and has a better emotional consequence I think. The kids set out to find the pirate ship treasure, if they fail the consequence is that their parents will loose their houses to some corporate monster, thus shattering the kids childhoods.
I really enjoyed this movie and while I enjoyed it, I felt easy : They plan and execute a robbery that should be difficult, but they pull it off in two days? Not enough conflict or risk in the heist (understandable, they didn't have scads of time, but... eh...) The ticking clock was there, but the stakes didn't seem very high, even when they were - I never believed the danger. I couldn't get wrapped up in it (part of it, I'm sure, was two teenage idiots behind me talking through the whole thing, just begging for someone to say something so they could blow up on that person).
Finally, with all the dust and spider webs down there, when the flame raced through the channels, I expected an explosion and a mess of melted gold, or at least charred documents from Alexander's library.....
7.5/10