Real Kato Blog: Movies: On Cable This Month

"National Treasure" and "Batman Begins".

"National Treasure"

This movie seemed like it was designed to capitalize on the "Da Vinci Code" craze. Having seen both the movies within the span of a week, I'd say this movie was a little better constructed, but the overall story was a little weaker. A treasure map printed on the back of the Declaration of Independence? That doesn't have the same implications as the quest for the Holy Grail.

Nicholas Cage was pretty weak here... like a pale imitation of Indiana Jones. But hey, it's Nicholas Cage. Most of the time, all he has to do is show up.

Rating: 2.5 / 5

"Batman Begins"

At first, my expectations for this movie were lowered because the franchise had reduced the Batman legacy to such an utter mess. I mean, "Batman and Robin" is in my top three worst movies of all time. (Behind "Johnny Mnemonic" and "The Avengers". I actually didn't think "Ishtar" was all that bad.)

But then a lot of folks started talking about how good "Batman Begins" was. So that raised my expectations a little.

As it turns out, this movie is better than the worst of the earlier Batman movies, but that still doesn't make it good. The first half of the movie is plodding and almost dull, and it incorporates martial-arts story elements like it was written by a fanboy aspiring to be Quentin Tarantino. The second half of the movie is frenzied but equally dull. You knew exactly how things were going to end up; you just had to see how many dizzying fight sequences you'd have to sit through before you got there.

It's not the worst movie I've ever seen. But I'm glad I didn't pay money to see it.

Rating: 2 / 5

Permalink 2 Comment

Posted by Ken in: movies, reviews

Comments

Comment #1 from olafandy (Guest)
2006 Jun 8 - 10:12 am : #

You didn't like Batman Begins?!?!?

I can't post here anymore...

;)

Comment #2 from Phil (Guest)
2006 Jun 12 - 1:19 am : #

I saw Batman Returns while I was really tired, and it didn't help me at all. I am grateful that Katie Holmes didn't have too much of a role. I enjoyed the lighting and the new Batman. And I wondered if I would have enjoyed Kill Bill 2 even *less* if I had seen this first.

As for National Treasure, I'm with you all the way. I watched it because I can't resist a "hidden in plain sight for centuries" storyline. Can't. Resist. Got any more movie suggestions of the sort?

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