No "Strain On The Brain"...

Rating: 7/10 (10 June 2008)

Okay, first things first: Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and the right to vigorously express that opinion, especially when it comes to movies, and definitely here at this site. Having said that, no one can tell me with a straight face that they had no idea what they were getting themselves into, when they went to a theater to see or rented NATIONAL TREASURE: BOOK OF SECRETS. I mean, c'mon. Like its predecessor, it's a WALT Disney FILM, co- produced by JERRY BRUCKHEIMER. If you were expecting THE GODFATHER or LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, you should've gone to the video store and rented one or both of them.
Just like the first TREASURE, it's another preposterous knockoff of the INDIANA JONES films set in post-modern times, without the grit and gravitas of Harrison Ford. (No offense to Nic Cage, but it's HARRISON FORD!) And like a 2-D version of a Disney theme park ride, this is not meant to stimulate the deep-thinking portions of your frontal lobe, parietal lobe or cerebral cortex whatsoever. Pleasure centers ONLY, people. The bombastic, ridiculous plot points wash over you, including all the leaps in logic and plot holes the size of Jupiter. You won't remember most of what happened two hours after seeing this anyway. I certainly didn't.
All you need to know is this: Cage is back as Benjamin Franklin Gates, and now he's determined to clear the Gates family name when an opportunistic fortune hunter (Ed Harris), floats the theory that Ben's great-great grandfather was one of the group of conspirators who aided and abetted John Wilkes Booth in the Lincoln assassination. Mirth, mayhem, vigorous chases through several different locales in various countries ensues, and none of it is too exciting or too threatening for the kiddies. In other words - all the earmarks of your typical Disney blockbuster.
There is some continuity, at least. Jon Voight and Justin Bartha return as Ben's dad and his trusty, put-upon sidekick, respectively. Diane Kruger returns as Ben's now-estranged lady friend and partner in treasure-hunting. (And at least her American accent has gotten a little bit better). Ed Harris is fittingly menacing - a role he seems to specialize in these days - so it's kind of a jolt when his character does a '180' at a certain point (you'll know when that is.) And though I could watch Helen Mirren pull weeds out of her garden, I'm surprised to see her here as Ben's mother, (though she is still terrific.)
Plus, we get a HUGE red flag I have learned to spot in any movie that features any kind of political intrigue or drama. In WHAT UNIVERSE, for Christ's sake, would the U.S. President ever be a man as handsome, well-spoken and laden with integrity as Bruce Greenwood? EXACTLY. Anytime I see him and he's playing the Commander-In-Chief, my "Uh-Oh" Meter zings into the red.
And that's not even mentioning the whole linking the Statue of Liberty, the Library of Congress and matching Resolute Desks in the US and England to Mt. Rushmore and the legend of the city of Cibola thing. (DON'T ASK.)
So this NATIONAL TREASURE sequel is not a great movie. It may not even be a GOOD movie as far as most rational-thinking movie-watching adults are concerned. But I have wasted two hours on a lot worse films than this. And did I happen to mention it's got HELEN MIRREN???