National Treasure: Collectors Edition (Blu-Ray) + National
Treasure 2: Book of Secrets (Blu-Ray + DVD/Disney)
Picture:
B+/B+/B- Sound: B+/B+/B- Extras: B/A-/B+ Films: B/C+
There are
no whips. There is no fear of snakes
(unless studio heads count). And there is not even Sean Connery. The National
Treasure films, which greatly borrowed from the Indiana Jones series, managed to capture the world’s attention with
its combination of history (no matter how inaccurate) with an all star cast and
adventure. The first film was an
interesting experience that this reviewer truly enjoyed and in turn led him to
be very excited for a potential sequel.
Sadly, National Treasure 2: Book
of Secrets is scattered, predictable, inconsistent, and pure nonsense. No matter how much potential the first film
had, the sequel threw it all out the window with a ridiculous plot that any 3rd
grader could see through as unfathomable.
A rundown
of the first film has been given twice on this site, so this reviewer will refer
readers to those reviews for plot summations.
The two past DVD reviews are listed below as follows:
Single
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/2216/National+Treasure+(Widescreen)
Double
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6342/National+Treasure
The
second film, National Treasure 2: Book
of Secrets reunites the cast from the first film plus a few other notable
names to resurrect a film concept that has been going strong since Indiana Jones started it 25 plus years
ago. Whereas the first film lightly and
convincingly followed the ‘Indiana Jones
model’ with its solid use of historical clues and adventure, the second film is
an inconceivable mess of mixed up history and outlandish stunts that is more
than forgettable. The plot again follows
our adventurous historian Benjamin Gates (Nicholas Cage) as he sets out on a
mission to clear his family’s name after Mitch Wilkinson (Ed Harris) steps
forward with incriminating evidence that the Gates ancestors were involved in
the Lincoln assassination. With a ‘long
lost’ page from John Wilkes Booth’s diary implicating the Gates Family,
Benjamin enlists the help of his father (Jon Voight), his smart mouthed friend
Riley (Justin Bartha), and his now estranged girlfriend Abigail (Diane
Kruger). It seems that somewhere between
the first and second film that Ben and Abigail have managed to stir up some relationship
turmoil; the only problem is that it makes the audience go ‘who cares…get on
with it.’
Armed
with his band of historians, Benjamin and his friends set out to uncover the
truth of his family’s involvement in the Lincoln murder. The Booth diary page, however, holds more
information than Gates at first realizes and Wilkinson is hot on his trail in
hopes that Gates will unwittingly lead him to the treasure that he has spent
his entire life searching for. The film
quickly changes (as many would have guessed) from a simple historical
challenge, to a full out blow em’ up, shoot em’ up, rivalry based
adventure. Helen Mirren shows up as Ben
Gates mother and Harvey Keitel once again returns as a more than understanding/helpful
FBI agent. There are small emotional
aspects to the film like the Benjamin and Abigail quarrel or the Patrick Gates
and Emily Appleton [Ben’s mom and dad] quarrel or the Riley always being left
out issue that just add up to useless, forgettable, and in many ways
ridiculous. Benjamin Gates sets out on a
mission to clear his family’s name, but just may have gotten himself into more
than he can handle. After all, the
sequel was a little too much for Jon Turteltaub to handle.
This
reviewer has obviously already expressed his frustrated opinion of the second National Treasure film. National
Treasure 2: Book of Secrets can easily be labeled forgettable with its
outlandish use of stunts that historians just would not do, ridiculous use of
skewed historical fact, and an overall sense of film making carelessness that
caters more to the studio wanting a sequel than to the fact that fans wanted
one.
Though
the first film had its own brand of inconsistencies and historical
fictitiousness, it was still fun and was solid as a stand alone film. Is National
Treasure the next Indiana Jones?
No, not even close. But it did utilize
that same brand (though tainted) of humor and adventure that its Indiana Jones predecessors taped into
decades before. Will fans fondly
remember the exact storyline and characters?
No, but it was a good movie experience nevertheless.
The
technical features on these three recent releases will not go down in history
as amazing, but overall give an excellent presentation. The Blu-Ray Releases of National Treasure and National
Treasure 2 are far superior to the standard DVD releases. The picture on both National Treasure and National
Treasure 2 Blu-Ray are presented in a 1080p High Definition/2.35 X 1
Widescreen that is amazingly clean, clear, and crisp with bright colors that
are admirable. The only issues with the
picture seems to lie with light/dark issues that occasionally appear in the
darker sequences and at times the picture seeming softer than it should, but
overall very nice. The sound in its
English Dolby TrueHD (48 kHz/24-bit) presentation is solid with a strong
underlying musical score for most of the film and crisp dialogues that even the
faster paced action sequences project extremely well. The sound quality lives up to the Jerry
Bruckheimer tradition with the use of epic scores to create a wall of sound to
support the action of the film, but in many ways lacks the memorable vision
that films like Pirates of the Caribbean
brought to the table. The extras are
plentiful on these three releases; the Blu-Ray releases having exclusives that
can not be found anywhere else.
The
picture and sound quality of National
Treasure 2: Book of Secrets on DVD can not live up to the Blu-Ray release,
but is still not bad. The picture is
presented in the same 2.35 X 1 Widescreen as the Blu-Ray release, but does not
have the sharpness or color level that is observed on Blu-Ray. The DVD is still a nice visual presentation,
but once you see Blu, DVD may make you red.
The sound presentation is also nice, but the standard Dolby Digital 5.1
Surround presentation does not compare to the TrueHD sound table, not
containing the exact punch and fluidness that is, once again, found on Blu-Ray.
National Treasure on Blu-Ray contains the same exact
extras as the DVD 2-Disc Collector’s Edition release that is reviewed elsewhere
on this site, with the exception of two added extras. The two added extras include a very nice
featurette entitled Mission History:
Inside the Declaration of Independence and an additional Audio Commentary
Track with director Jon Turteltaub and actor Justin Bartha. The additional extras that were added from
the single DVD release to the 2-Disc Collector’s were nothing fantastic as
previously reviewed, but the addition of a new featurette and new commentary
were very well welcomed.
National Treasure 2: Book of
Secrets on
Blu-Ray contains all the extras that are on the DVD release, plus two
additional special features. On both
versions of the film fans will find deleted scenes with introductions from Jon
Turteltaub, some outtakes and bloopers, Audio Commentary with Jon Turteltaub
and Jon Voight, and eight different featurettes. One featurette entitled Secrets of the Sequel dives more into the mythology that inspired
the sequel, while other featurettes like The
Book of Secrets on Location, Street Stunts: Creating the London Chase, Inside
the Library of Congress, Underground Action, and Cover Story: Crafting the
Presidents Book, Evolution of a Golden City, Knights of the Golden Circle all
center on the making of the film and collectively give an immense look into how
the less than stellar sequel was crafted.
While the film may not have been the best, Disney has done an excellent
job in letting fans observe how every aspect of the film was created. The two exclusive Blu-Ray extras really top
off the special features section with a nice featurette entitled Book of History: The Fact and Fiction of
National Treasure: Book of Secrets that challenges the viewers’ history
knowledge and a second extra that includes 2 additional deleted scenes with Jon
Turteltaub. Overall, the plethora of
Bonus Features on the National Treasure
2 DVD and Blu-Ray could keep any fan busy for hours.
This
reviewer was very entertained by the Indiana Jones inspired feel of the first
National Treasure, with its solid mix of pseudo-historical fact with
adventurous action. National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets, however, was a big
disappointment. Whereas the film was
still mildly entertaining as a ‘popcorn film,’ it lacked the heart, style, and
solid storyline of the first film; even the brilliant Helen Mirren seemed bored
and out of place in the film. Whereas
the first film took itself seriously as a standalone film with a plot and
adventure, Book of Secrets treated
itself as a pointless sequel to a good film.
This reviewer is suddenly reminded of Ocean’s 12 when thinking about Book
of Secrets, though maybe ‘National Treasure 3’ could slightly redeem 2 like Ocean’s 13 did. History is
written by the winners, so National
Treasure 2 does not have much to say.
- Michael P. Dougherty II
