National Treasure 2: It has lost it's Gold

National Treasure: Book of Secrets stars Nicolas Cage, Jon Voight, and Helena Mirren, making it one of the most disappointing movies to ever star three Academy Award winners. Historical facts aside, all is has going for it is what each actor brings individually to each movie. Together, there is nothing special. The movie seems at times a sequel to The Rock, which I would rather watch.

Cage returns as Benjamin Gates, now popular after the success of his first treasure hunt, finds his great-great grandfather framed as a conspirator to the Lincoln assassination. Who framed him? Ed Harris in his 30-somethingth time as a bad guy. Along for the ride is the original cast of National Treasure, Justin Bartha, Diane Kruger (Troy), Jon Voight (Transformers), and Harvey Keitel (Pulp Fiction). In addition is Helen Mirren (The Queen) playing the mother of Benjamin Gates, a historian for Aztec/Mayan culture. They are looking for El Dorado, the lost city of gold buried under a mountain.

Somehow the lost city of gold, a plot of foreign powers to resurrect the Confederacy after the Lincoln assignation, and Gates relative is all related and tied together. This leads them to break into Buckingham Palace, kidnap the President to gain access to a secret book looked at by Presidents only on everything from Area 51 to Watergate tapes, and dodge bullets on their way to Mt. Rushmore. I found the treasure map on the back of the Declaration of Independence more believable. Here, each clue leads to another clue, which relates to a namedropping Buckingham Palace. They seem to do each act for the sake of going somewhere we recognize the name. In the first National Treasure, the Declaration of Independence involved the plot, such as where historical documents go, stealing them from document restoration labs, and a well-delivered switchoff with a soveigner shop copy of the Declaration. Instead, I see nothing recognizable about Buckingham Palace except the British accents and the steering wheels on the wrong side.

In addition, the action is unnecessary and Harris' character doesn't follow logic with his reasoning. The plot is directed away for the sake of including Harvey Keitel in the film as an FBI friend of Gates and to kidnap the President in the most embarrassing moment in Secret Service history. The kidnapping was anti-climatic and lecturing, hardly believable.

Ed Harris and Nicolas Cage previously stared in The Rock, as good guy and bad guy, where Sean Connery held all the nation's secrets. Here, the President has the secrets, and again Cage takes them while Harris points a gun. Just another level this movie is unoriginal.

Is it entertaining? Hardly. When breaking into places for namesake and bad guys shooting for the sake of shooting, the action loses its suspense and meaning. Plus, we've already seen all of this in National Treasure 1, which actually had better action.

Is it marketable? I have no doubt this movie will sell well. The faces and individual actors doing what they've done in every movie is the only thing going for this movie.

Is it memorable? The first one was. This is a sequel ripping off its original.

My suggestion: Watch the first. Don't bother with this one. If you're looking for great Cage and Harris action in good and bad guy roles, watch the Rock for best action performances and ensemble humor between Cage and Connery. (See picture below.)