It wasn't a bad film, but it didn't bring anything new to the table

Rating: 7/10 (12 January 2008)

I was pleasantly surprised by the first one, and with the excellent sequels that have recently come out, I was hoping this would at least match National Treasure. But National Treasure: Book of Secrets only did very incremental adjustments that did not even set out to improve its predecessor, lazily riding on the former's equity.
It wasn't a bad film, but it didn't bring anything new to the table. Nicolas Cage isn't an amazing actor but since he uncannily gets the right movies at the right time, people go out and see his flicks anyway. But you cannot forgive him this time for reprising his role as treasure-seeker Ben Gates in such poorly-written fashion. Diane Kruger as his girlfriend Abigail Chase is still predictably bland when she could've used this opportunity to redeem herself, especially when her character now seems to have a penchant for stating the obvious instead of being the smartie she's supposed to be. But it's hard to hate Justin Bartha as the reliable comic relief Riley Poole, as well as the rest of the cast who seem to just be in this flick for the cash cow that it is.
It all boils down to the shabby writing; seems like the writers were already on strike at this point! Having hinted at a Part 3 (and there haven't been very good Part 3s of the other movie franchises so far), I hope they use it to finally do something more clever and interesting.