National Treasure: Book of Secrets

A repeated joke is no longer funny, or leave this treasure alone already! It's true that it's a cute Hollywood, star-studded mystery adventure that fortunately doesn't take itself too seriously and works more than satisfactorily as unpretentious visual entertainment despite its excessive runtime, but there's not a single reason to grant its limited filmmaking qualities with a fourth star and thus make it a work worthy of recommendation and praise in my books... Harmless and inoffensive, but still a barely ambitious average. ;) 60% (07/06/2012)

Talky, predictable, boring. I don't remember a single minute of the first part, and the second part turns out exactly the same. Nicolas Cage's puzzle-solving skills belong in the Guinness Book of Records. Quite embarrassing considering that this “intelligent” entertainment is aimed at the widest audience possible so that at least some money can be made from this boring, yet expensive-looking story. The most entertaining scene is the one with the president. I highly recommend it to all intellectuals and cynics. There would be plenty of waste, like mushrooms after rain. (27/09/2008)

The same old sterile approach a second time round. An incredibly dumb plot, illogical behavior by characters, routineer directing without any scenes that stick in your mind, ridiculous deductions and “dialogs" - all that remained the same. Again it tries to be for the whole family, but fundamentally again for nobody. Perhaps maybe only the wannabe funny helper gets on my nerves much more than last time. And yes, it is equally entertaining as part one was. As movie to relax to, that you forget instantly, this works decently. However, it doesn’t even come close to satisfying those who like adventure and so it just leaves you with the irresistible urge to put on a proper adventure movie. Ideally Indy. (05/01/2008)

Turteltaub's family, led by the radiant Cage, adds a higher speed compared to an already solid first part, rushing towards another treasure and this time even justice. Despite occasional slip-ups in logic, everything happens at such a killer pace that I couldn't catch my breath. I want to believe that despite years of delay, the Gates family will make it to the third installment. (24/05/2008)

It's almost the same as the first installment but the larger than life finale simply forces me to give it an extra star. I just love golden cities. I just love golden cities. Plus, for the first time in a long while, Cage is finally in a pretty good movie, and if you take National Treasure as an appetizer for the fourth Indiana Jones (the new trailer is great, by the way) you'll spend quite a pleasant two hours with it. (04/05/2008)