“National Treasure: Book of Secrets”

Nicolas Cage
Jon Voight
Harvey Keitel
Ed Harris
Diane Kruger
Justin Bartha
Bruce Greenwood
Helen Mirren

PG           124min           2007.

Treasure hunter Benjamin Franklin Gates (Nicolas Cage) looks to discover the truth behind the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, by uncovering the mystery within the 18 pages missing from assassin John Wilkes Booth’s diary.

This one is not as good as the first but still interesting and exciting as before. This time around, they travel to locales that are more international. The plot is too simplistic and Disney driven.

National Treasure: Book of Secrets has Benjamin Gates trying to clear the name of his great, great, great granddad name. The conspiracy theory is more international and a little more nefarious in nature. It deals with more politics that are international but ends up still finding a national treasure that even I had never heard of.

The action was too clean and no one is injury severely. Guns are brandished more than they are fired and mercenary are the worst shot for hired gunman, a definite influence from Disney. You never see an ounce of blood and the only death of the film is off screen. There is a setup of another sequel; that is apparent to anyone watching.

“National Treasure: Book of Secrets” is an alright film and is an ok sequel to the first. Maybe its that I expect more from a Jerry Bruckheimer Film. It felt to Disney influenced and the plot was a little more a stretch of the imagination. I did like what the treasure was and where it was located. The setup of a sequel did make me want to see what it is.

I give it 3/5 Gs.

“The Kingdom”

Jamie Foxx
Chris Cooper
Jennifer Garner
Jason Bateman
Jeremy Piven
Danny Huston
Richard Jenkins
Ashraf Barhom
Ali Suliman
Kyle Chandler
Frances Fisher
Ashley Scott
Anna Deavere Smith

R           119min           2007

When a terrorist bomb detonates inside a Western housing compound in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, an international incident is ignited. While diplomats slowly debate equations of territorialism, FBI Special Agent Ronald Fleury quickly assembles an elite team and negotiates a secret five-day trip into Saudi Arabia to locate the madman behind the bombing. – from Universal Pictures

“The Kingdom”is one of my personal favorite war movies. It is not only a good drama but it’s a good action film. It brought to light situations about the war and the country of Saudi Arabia that I never knew. It contains an outstanding cast that brought what it took to make this film what it is. It is a film, I think, everyone will love; it is just that good.

This film pleases both sides of your brain. The action is gritty, realistic, and in your face. The drama and plot is intelligent and believable. It pulls no punches.

One of the elements that make “The Kingdom” works is that uses realistic culture situations to move the drama. From how much we have influence there technologic, grow to the second-class citizenship of women. It showed how we all have cultural biases, which influence our thinking and the way we interact with other cultures. However it also shows how much cultural similarities we also have.

Peter Berg does a great job of directing this film. He uses an outstanding cast to tell his story and shots that bring the audience into the film. The cast is at the top of their game and melded together excellently. They capture the emotions of the audience. Let the audience get lost in the drama. The action makes you film like you are a fly on the wall of a drama that just a small piece of a bigger picture.

There is a feature commentary with director Peter Berg. There are a few deleted scenes. There are four behind the scene featurettes, Character by Character: The Apartment Shootout, Constructing the Freeway Sequence, Creating the Kingdom, and History of the Kingdom, an interactive timeline. There is only one movie preview “White Noise 2”.

I give it 5/5 Gs.