KEY POINTS:
Herald Rating: * *
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Diane Kruger, Jon Voight, Ed Harris, Helen Mirren, Justin Bartha
Director: Jon Turteltaub
Rating: PG, medium level violence
Running time: 124 mins
Screening: SkyCity, Hoyts, Berkeley
Verdict:Those who do not learn from history action films are doomed to repeat them, apparently
The 2004 predecessor to this was enjoyable family action hokum with Cage's modern day treasure-hunter involved in a nonsensical Da Vinci Code-like hunt through American history.
But while its sequel may come equipped with a bigger everything (cast, air miles, itinerary of historic spots, cave to wave more torches around at the end) it ends up twice as contrived and about half as fun.
Let's not complain about the plausibility of its puzzle involving the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, a secret book handed down from American president to American president, Queen Victoria, various items of furniture, an ancient city of gold and Mt Rushmore - just the way the puzzle is solved.
That pretty much amounts to one character saying to another "hey, that's got to be a clue" and the other going "yes, especially after I apply this arcane factoid I am trying to make sound convincing despite my line making it sound like I'm reading from Wikipedia."
So it's not very involving.
It's really crowded, too, with Cage's Benjamin Gates and his hairpiece not only joined again by decorative document expert Abigail (Kruger), the not-very-funny tech geek sidekick (Bartha), the grumpy historian dad (Voight) and the understanding FBI guy (Harvey Keitel), but also getting the grumpy linguist mother (Mirren, who looks to be the only one having any fun), the stern villain (Harris), and the unusually helpful president of the United States (Bruce Greenwood) to help explain the plot to everyone else.
It's not much fun as an action film either, though a tedious London-set action sequence is hilarious for the way it shouts "look a Limey car chase" involving London cabs, a sideswiped double decker bus and a beer tanker, and the Thames. And yes, it does start at Buckingham Palace.
But mostly the archaeological action is stateside with Gates leading everyone on a merry dance to a finale which seems set on a Disneyland ride, albeit one with fiendish booby traps. But it contains only one real surprise - how a character suddenly changes motivation and renders the previous two hours even more nonsensical. Though you'll only notice if you're still paying attention and heaven knows why you would still be doing that after so much tedium.
