A Thrilling Winter Ride

Rating: 8/10 (21 December 2007)

My wife and I were able to attend a sneak preview offered by Disney at our local AMC Theater. The theater was packed thanks to the local radio station giveaway of passes. I enjoyed the first movie but it wasn't on my Top 100 movie list for great films. It was what it was, a fun, ahistorical excuse to put Nicholas Cage in the middle of an Indiana Jones-esquire adventure. It entertained but had the substance of cotton candy, as once I was out of the theater the movie left my memory. So I went into this screening of Book of Secrets with middling expectations. I will have to admit the writers did a good job of constructing a cool story to serve as the catalyst to send Nick "Ben Gates" Cage and his posse on an adventure worth the space in my memory.
I am sure the story has been summarized well already. So I am cutting to the chase (or chases) in what I found appealing in this film. Ed Harris as the bad guy worked as I found Ed's character to be sufficiently creepy as the pseudo-Blackwater chief "Mitch Wilkinson." He could have been the cookie-cutter foil but the writers added a nice twist at the end of the story that redeems Wilkinson and raises his character above the stock movie nemesis. Helen Mirren was a delight as Ben's Mom who happened to be an expert in dead languages. Mirren and Voight had good chemistry as a long-separated couple who could have benefited from marriage counseling all those years ago.
Yet what I enjoyed the most was the interplay within the triad, Ben Gates, his ersatz ex Abigail Chase and the everyman hero, Riley Poole. They played off each other as if they had known each other for years. Cage as Gates, pulls off the insufferable but lovable ex so well that you buy into the plot line that has the lovely and sharp Diane Kruger, as Abigail Chase, fall in love with Gates all over again. This could slide into treacle without the valuable contribution of Justin Bartha as the long-suffering, unacknowledged action hero, Riley Poole. His humor was always timely and never forced. It was also gratifying to see that he did get the girl and the car in the end.
Am I the only one who thought that Bruce Greenwood brought a Kennedyesque air about his portrayal of "The President." Maybe it was due to his excellent work as JFK in "Thirteen Days," but he actually convinced me we could have a President who was intelligent and well-spoken. Also, he has me curious as to what was in the Presidents' book and how that will be played out in "National Treasure III: Page 47." So I hope they invite him back to join Gates in the next installment.
So if you loved the first movie, you won't be disappointed in the Book of Secrets. It is a better, more coherent film that the first one with a great cast that worked well together. What more could you ask for in an adventure film released in December rather than summer!