Not a worthy sequel -- don't bother with this one

Rating: 3/10 (22 December 2007)

First of all, I really liked the first NT film. At first, I thought it was because I just had such low expectations, but I watched it again recently and it holds up very well. But, this is about the sequel. Unfortunately, I DID have high expectations for NT2, but it has none of the panache that the first movie possessed. Even in the first film, the plot stretches credulity, but in this pile of dreck, there's almost no coherent plot in the first place. They make an attempt to weave a complex plot out of some weak connections, but only succeed in producing a confusing jumble of "puzzles" that anyone could figure out in a few minutes. With this lack of plot line, it's no wonder that the motivations of the characters are similarly murky. Subplots are set up and toppled for no apparent reason, and the Ed Harris character is particularly schizoid, which is a shame because he's such a good supporting actor. Unfortunately, his talents were almost entirely wasted in this film. In fact, wasting excellent actors' efforts seems to be the primary purpose of NT2. Justin Bartha (Riley) is consistently witty and funny, just as he was in the first film, but he seems a little strained or forced at times in the sequel. Nicholas Cage actually improves on his performance in the first film. He's much less wooden and seems more relaxed and natural in the role of of Ben Gates. Jon Voight and Hellen Mirren are simply dynamite together and could easily pull off a sequel by themselves. Diane Kruger is as hot as ever, but even she's not enough to save this dog of a film. In fact, ALL the acting in NT2 is very good, but the result is much less than the sum of the parts. Even great acting can't save a bad script. Don't waste your time -- you'll just be disappointed.