National Treasure 2: Book Of Secrets

And we are back with the equally good sequel to National Treasure.

All the previous notes I made in the last movie are present, with minor adjustments and a few new additions. Okay, so the plot is very much like the last a great big treasure hunt lead by our friend Nicholas Cage, followed by our companions from the last movie. I got to tell you though, the plot makes some major leaps in the grand scheme of the hunt. In the last movie it was a gradual progression of clues to the finale, and all of them made perfect sense. But this movie makes a leap from assasination of Abraham Lincoln to finding probably the most ridiculous cover up I've ever seen in my life. They get to globetrotting too, heading to England and other places. We get to meet Ben Gates's mom played by Helen Mirren, while in the last movie we just met his dad played by Jon Voight and they make the movie much more fun. Our villain is certainly a step up from Sean Bean in more ways than one played by Ed Harris, terrific actor who really nails the menace in this movie. Final sum up, a good movie with raised stakes and payoffs, a little light on the history but it doesn't hurt it, I would recommend it especially around Independence Day. Now to celebrate with fireworks! Have a happy 4th of July everybody!

National Treasure

Okay we got a double feature for you tonight, so let's dive right in.

National Treasure is a very fun, very interesting movie with lots of history interwoven in a treasure hunt starring Nicholas Cage. The plot is like I said, a great big treasure hunt is underway with our hero Ben Gates as he searches for the greatest treasure in human history. Until the second movie happens. But anyway, I just like the inner details of the story and the treasure hunt. You can tell it was very difficult and very fun to actually write the story from beginning to end, daisy chaining all the clues to the big finale. Plus I got to commend a movie that can teach very nifty american history while still being entertaining and not a snore fest. The cast is really good, Nicholas Cage is a passionate lead, his right hand man Riley played by Justin Bartha is the best part of the entire movie, you wouldn't think the comic sidekick would be the best part but he really is! Diane Kruger does great as the romantic interest, and we got Sean Bean as a villain who surprisingly doesn't die so chalk that up to good luck. All in all, an entertaining film with a fun history edge to it. In the words of Joe Bob Briggs, four stars check it out. And now onto the sequel.

Raiders Of The Lost Ark

Well I figured we could look at the Indiana Jones trilogy this week, since we just finished the Star Wars saga last week and Steven Spielberg and George Lucas helped each other making both series so it really ties together well.

So how does the first Indiana Jones film hold up after over thirty years? Amazingly well. This is one of the greatest action-adventure movies of all time, and a classic to behold. So our story follows this particular adventure of famed archaeologist Indiana Jones played to perfection by Harrison Ford in pursuit of The Ark of The Covenant. We follow his travels from the university where he is a professor to the mountains of Nepal to retrieve a headpiece of the Staff of Ra to find the location of the Ark. There he meets an old flame of his, Marion played wonderfully by Karen Allen who becomes his partner in crime. They then travel to Cairo to meet with an old excavating friend of Indy's, Sallah played by John-Rhys Davies who is a joy to watch, soon they discover the location of the Ark and must protect it from the Nazis. A lot of the tropes and what you could consider cliches found in treasure hunting movies and epic action-adventure films were made popular by this movie, but it doesn't take absolutely anything away from it, it's still a spectacular movie that should be seen by all. I couldn't recommend this movie anymore, go out and watch it, you will love it. I think the best part of the entire movie besides the great cast and the unforgettable opening scene is the buildup to the Ark. You don't see it until near the end but hints are dropped as to how unearthly and truly dangerous this relic is. It legitimately makes me cautious as to our characters getting closer and closer to this artifact from wrath of God times. I'm sorry I didn't delve into it that much but I want there to be some mystery as to what happens in this film if you haven't seen it already. Wait until you see the end, you'll freak out a bit. So bottom line, watch Raiders Of The Lost Ark, I promise you that you will enjoy it greatly.

So tomorrow we will review the Indiana Jones movie that almost got an R rating and has a very split audience even to this day.