Book of Mediocrity

Rating: 5/10 (4 May 2008)

I have not seen the first film in this series so I am unable to comment on how well this film holds up against it, but I have to assume it was mildly successful to warrant a sequel, however for the life of me I can not see why. It is not that this is a bad movie it is just that it is completely mediocre in every aspect and completely devoid of inspiration, this truly is just a poor man's Indiana Jones. Nicholas Cage plays the lead character Ben Gates a treasure hunter like his father before him who becomes involves in a fight to clear his families name names from being involved in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Unsurprisingly this ends up in Ben and his ensemble (ex wife Abigal Chase and erstwhile colleague Riley Poole) on a globe trotting mission to reveal the secrets in all sorts of historical artefacts and locations that will lead to the truth and clear the family. The problems for me where that I just did not care about any of the cast. Nic Cage was really just acting by numbers and the film managed to waste the joint talents of John Voight, Ed Harris and Helen Mirren which in it's self in my opinion is the film's greatest achievement. The direction is run of the mill and a little research on the director Jon Turtletuab led me to unsurprisingly find that his previous television and film work had also been mediocre. Not one for me and not worth a second viewing.