National Treasure-Nice Try Guys But Nicolas Cage Is No National Treasure
I will start out by being straight up honest. I am a deeply prejudged man. I can not for the life of me believe that the powers that be keep putting Nicolas Cage aka Nicolas Coppola in movies. Is there some sort of support group for this painful disorder. They just keep throwing him at us in wave after wave of film. The films flop it doesn’t matter, they lose millions, it doesn’t matter, the Hollywood gods are unrelenting in their operation-Operation Brainwash America. Case in point the poster for National Treasure, it has Nicolas Cage standing heroically! Like there is any chance of that, seriously, please people. Nicolas Cage is about as much a national treasure as I am a writer for Time Magazine. Every now and then he is in a flick and he doesn’t utter skull f***, but look folks if I go to the carnival and play long enough I win too. Now, thanks to you America the Hollywood lawyers and MBA’s will be able to point to the $300 million plus that got snatched out of peoples pockets and say, “see they like Nicolas Cage.” Thanks.
This isn’t a horrible film, its just not that good. Yes, lots of people went to see it, but lots of people go to see prostitutes every year as well, doesn’t make it right or pretty. Since they often “visit” prostitutes more than once, I guess that counts as a sequel...anyway...Quick summary of National Treasure, because that is all it deserves: Map on back of Declaration of Independence, must get it, part of map leads to gold hidden by founding fathers, action and adventure, obligatory love interest, full of sights and sounds, signifying, nothing.
Now, there is some originality in this, more originality than say that little marvel of modern cinema called Pirates of the Carribean. So at least Bruckheimer tries to stimulate the audiences brain, a little this time, thankfully. You know, what the Hollywood gods don’t seem to want to believe is that if they make films with action, where stuff blows up AND it is smart and intelligent, people would go and they would go more often. People are not going to the movies less because the movies are not laced with enough visual effects, they’re not going because the scripts you guys are cranking out (a horse designed by a committee is a mule) just suck or are flat. Sure, National Treasure made a lot of cash, but Hollywood’s action movies would make so much more money if they stopped assuming everyone out there was a box of rocks.
There are some decent sets and the story is mildly interesting, but it all just feels so, “going through the motions to get the money on the other side,” that one feels a little bit had by the end. If your desperate for an action movie and you can handle Nicolas Cage’s unique brand of “acting”and painted on suntan, then this may work for you. But as I said in the beginning I wish someone would stop Operation Brainwash America, but come to think of it, if that were to happen we would have yet another Coppola directing.
Story C-
Acting D+
Visuals B-
Enjoyability Grade C-
Home Theater/HD Factor B-
Overall Grade C- (National Treasure? Hardly.)
|
