National Treasure 2

M: After enjoying the original so much, I was disappointed in this sequel. This movie lacked both the originality and the cleverness of its predecessor. It was a decent adventure movie, but the characters were not super likable and the adventure seemed unnecessary, unbelievable, unrealistic, and, ultimately, unfulfilling. Ed Harris' character was completely beyond my understanding, one minute he was a maniacal murderous monster chasing the good guys through the streets of London, hell bent on beating them to the treasure even if it meant killing them all along with half the city of London, the next minute he was seemingly part of the team. an OK show, worth a red box, but ultimately, fairly disappointing. 2 stars

V: Yeah, the first was so fun because of all the puzzles and clues they had to figure out. This one had just a few puzzles. The big problem was that -unless I missed it - I saw no justification for what they were doing. Supposedly it was to clear his ancestor's name, but there was no reason finding the treasure would clear his ancestor's name - if anything (!) it further proved his ancestor's guilt in being involved with the original bad-guy-gold-hunters! So that could have used some clarification. The villain was oddly motivated, too. If it's just for money or fame, keep it at that. What's with the artifacts and then destroying them, and being so intensely violent, when he had been so calculated and cautious for so long before? The relationships between the good guys were fun, though. Fairly entertaining, even if there were a few puzzle pieces missing. 2 1/2 stars