DVD - National Treasure: Book of Secrets (PG)

COMING out just as Indy Four hits the big screen means that it's hard not to compare National Treasure: Book of Secrets with the Spielberg franchise. Even with the latter's faults, Nicholas Cage doesn't have anywhere near the charisma of Harrison Ford, which really highlights how much the success of this kind of journey depends on the characters you're travelling with. Characters which may well have been set up in the first movie, aren't expanded or developed in any way, and poor old Harvey Keitel just gets to rattle around an office, hearing everything the audience has already heard three times and, presumably, wistfully thinking back to that time he nearly won an Oscar. At a guess, 80 per cent of Book of Secrets is exposition and every new discovery has its awe stripped away by constant explanations, which at first feel a... [read full story]