Not a "Treasure," but still worthwhile...
MLB and I caught the first matineé showing of "National Treasure", and it's a movie we both heartily recommend.
It's not an "action adventure," per se, ala the "Indiana Jones" films; it's more of a thinking person's adventure, and it helps to have an appreciation for -- if not a deep knowledge of -- American history. Nicolas Cage, Diane Kruger and Justin Bartha comprise an excellent good-guys ensemble, and their interplay is one of the movie's strengths. Jon Voigt is unfortunately wasted in his role as the father of Cage's character.
The movie is great fun, despite a couple of momentary lulls in the plot. It's a refreshingly family-friendly PG as well, with just a few scary scenes that keep it from being suitable for the youngest movie-goers.
One of the more interesting parts of our movie-going experience this afternoon was the trailer for Vin Diesel's upcoming movie, "The Pacifier." It was hilarious! I can't remember the last time I heard an audience laugh so loudly at EVERY scene in a trailer...and keep laughing at the end of it so that we missed the opening dialog on the next one. If the trailer is any indication (and we know how those things can lie to us, don't we?) this movie is going to push Diesel's career up another notch as he closes the gap on Arnie. Watch for it in the summer of 2005.
I thought about using "Kindergarten Cop" as a point of reference, but since I've never seen it, I decided against referring to it.
Diesel's pretty good at the self-deprecating humor...you could see a bit of it in "XXX."
He's already a better actor than Arnie, although that's not saying much. (Not to take anything away from Arnie; his accomplishments speak for themselves.)
Posted by: Eric at November 19, 2004 08:01 PMEric, thanks for the comments on the film. We had found the trailers intriguing ... we also watched the special "National Treasure" episode of "Mythbusters" on television.
Also, thanks for the tip about "Pacifier." After reading your comments, I watched the trailer online. It was funny, and it got me looking forward to the film ... successful, I guess.
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Diesel as a comedy star? Maybe he'll succeed where Arnold stumbled.
Truthfully, the plot sounds like a re-hash of Arnold's "Kindergarten Cop", which isn't all that surprising.
I've got a suspicion there's a scene in it where the power (and the lights go out). One of the invariably cute kids says, "I'm scaaAAaared!"
...and Diesel replies, "You're not afraid of the dark, are you?"
It's become his "signature line" after the two "Pitch Black" movies. It's Diesel's version of Arnold's "I'll Be Back". Diesel needs to do a few more action films before he can run for governor, though.
Posted by: Mr. Freen at November 19, 2004 07:04 PM