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

Why is it that whenever we find something on the ground that�s not of this earth � be it a broken cigarette lighter or invalid gym membership card � we consider it �Treasure�? Sometimes useless junk is simply, useless junk� no matter how sparkly it looks from afar.

In 2004, Producer Jerry Bruckheimer (�The Rock�, �Bad Boys�) struck, er, gold with an ambitious �Indiana Jones�-like adventure pic titled �National Treasure�. It mightn�t have quite lived up to its name (only �Indiana Jones� does �Indiana Jones� like �Indiana Jones� knows how), but it was far from useless junk. Needless to say, the Nicolas Cage-starrer wasn�t discarded � and two short years later, we�ve got the sequel.

If the first film was a ten dollar note you found on the ground, then �National Treasure : Book of Secrets� is the empty aerosol can you next to it � quite simply, it�s useless. All the fun, thrills and clever plotting of the original has been replaced by a ridiculously lame plot that�s seemingly been concocted on the back of, well, an invalid gym membership card.

Original director Jon Turteltaub directs this bloated follow-up, which sees master explorer and code-breaker Benjamin Gates (Nicolas Cage) looking 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. Accompanied by his assistant Riley (Justin Bartha), former flame Abigail (Diane Kruger) and his bickering parents (Jon Voight and Helen Mirren), Gates eventually finds what he�s looking for in the guts of Mount Rushmore.

Jerry Bruckheimer-produced films were �old reliables� in the 80s and 90s � �Beverly Hills Cop�, �Top Gun�, �Days of Thunder�, �Armageddon�, �The Rock� - but 2001�s �Bad Boys 2� signalled a new era of the billionaire buck, someone who suddenly didn�t give a, er, Bruck. From the bloated mess that was the �Bad Boys� sequel to the infuriating waste of Anthony Hopkins� talent that was �Bad Company�, the man seemed to have lost his golden touch.

A successful producer is one who can make both a good movie and money from it � the �Pirates of the Caribbean� movies may have made JB Films a hefty sum, but that doesn�t mean they were any good. In fact, sans Johnny Depp�s terrific performance as Captain Jack Sparrow not to mention the great special effects, the �Pirates� sequels are prime examples of over-ambitious films that totally forgot about its audience. It�s the same with the �National Treasure� sequel, Bruckheimer�s forgotten what the audience enjoyed about the first movie � the clever storytelling and interesting plot-twists � and replaced their needs with wants that can only suffice the needs of a studio accountant and half-a-dozen overpaid actors. Quite simply, it�s a boring by-numbers adventure movie that�ll have most rubbing their eyes by the quarter-way mark.

It�s not the worst film Bruckheimer has ever produced, nor is it the worst film Nicolas Cage has ever starred in, but that doesn�t mean the �Book of Secrets� should ever have been opened. �Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull� can�t come quick enough.

Rating :
Reviewer : Clint Morris