When The Cast Is Having Fun, So Am I

Rating: 8/10 (4 December 2015)

The first "National Treasure" was a fun, little movie. Nothing spectacular, but a well-casted, well-paced, clever movie with a great sense of humor. "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" completely blows its predecessor out of the water. The biggest reason for that? Everyone involved is just having the time of their lives.
Nicholas Cage has long been my favorite actor of all time, and while this is CERTAINLY not one of his best performances, he does a really good job as Ben Gates. He gets a chance in this installment to show off more of the comedic, over-the-top kookiness that we've come to expect of Cage over the years in fare like "Face/Off" or "Con Air." Cage is just having so much more fun this time around, and his performance gets a lotta laughs. Diane Kruger gives a fine performance as Abigail Chase, Ben's ex-girlfriend and right hand- woman in his quest for the truth. Their chemistry is kind of "on and off" in this movie, but when it works, (i.e, the fake argument scene and the scene following it) it REALLY works.
Justin Bartha does an excellent job as Riley Poole, Cage's charming sidekick. His acting reminds me a lot of Seth Green in a lot of ways, and given how much a fan I am of Green, that's a major compliment. Bartha's hilarious in this movie, while still proving to be more than competent and intelligent in Gate's search to clear his great-grandfather's name.
As for Jon Voight, as always, the man is fantastic. He puts a lot of passion in his performance of a man with strong familial ties desperate to find the truth, and his character has really grown and developed a lot more from the first movie. And, like most of the cast, he's pretty damn funny when the script requires him to be. He steals the show here.
The action is extremely well done for a Disney movie. Required to maintain a "PG" rating, "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" has to rely on the speed, tension and suspense of their action sequences rather than violence in order to capture the attention of the audience, and I absolutely feel like the film does that. The film does a great job putting characters we like and care about in suspenseful, dangerous situations we desperately want them to escape.
"Suspenseful" is the key word for "Book of Secrets." Even in non- action related sequences, the film did a great job always keeping me on my toes in numerous scenes; from breaking into Buckingham Palace to Gates himself kidnapping the President of the United States! The whole film is an exciting, fun, tense ride.
I only have 2 big problems with the film; 1) The villains. Ed Harris gives a good performance here as Mitch Wilkinson, but his character is just never that interesting. I suppose he's better than Ian from the first movie, but that's not saying much. I wish these films would give us villains with more interesting personalities and backstories and better motivation than just "Give me the treasure!" 2) The "PG" rating. Much like the first film, I can't help watching this wishing that it was PG-13, which could have allowed the action sequences to be more intense and entertaining and possibly allowed for a darker story. I mean, the "Pirates" movies were all PG-13, "John Carter" was PG-13, the new Star Wars is going to be PG-13, so not sure why Disney couldn't make either National Treasure installments PG-13 movies.
Despite those problems, "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" is still a well casted, funny, insanely entertaining action movie that really managed to compel me and hold my attention, and a vast improvement over its predecessor. This is a production where everybody aboard is just happy to be here. And that happiness is contagious.