ViewGuide

Created Apr 12, 2008 01:18AM PST • Edited Dec 03, 2010 11:55PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Very Good 3.5

   Cheerfully entertaining hokum, this professionally rendered popcorn movie reliably delivers charming and clever escapism. I’d avoided it for years, mostly due to Nic Cage wariness, but am quite happy to have now seen it, and wouldn’t hesitate to watch it again if the occasion arose.

   And yet, not to spoil any secrets, but the sequel’s even better.

4. Acting

   Very Good 3.5

   Nic Cage restrains himself, making his understated performance easy to absorb. The beauteous Diane Kruger (she played Helen of Troy, so she must be beautiful) delivers her lines with sufficient grace, while Justin Bartha is reasonably funny as the nerdy sidekick.

   A trio of old time big names – Jon Voight, Harvey Keitel and Christopher Plummer – grace the screen in meaty supporting roles, making this a professional effort all around.

5. Male Stars Very Good 3.5

6. Female Stars Very Good 3.5

7. Female Costars Very Good 3.5

8. Male Costars Very Good 3.5

10. Film

    Great 4.0

    Glossy production values, light-on-its-feet dialogue, and state-of-the-art FX make this a great Hollywood-type film.

11. Direction Great 4.0

12. Play Very Good 3.5

13. Music Great 4.0

14. Visuals Really Great 4.5
15. Content

16. Edge

    Tame 1.2

    Harmless stooge-like violence

17. Sex Innocent 1.2

18. Violence Gentle 1.5

19. Rudeness Polite 1.0

21. Reality

    Surreal 2.8

    Farcical inventions abound in this movie, from the treasure room five stories below Manhattan’s Trinity Church to the secret decoder glasses masoned into Independence Hall, all great fun.

    The movie is leavened by a frank wonder at the real glories of American history. This appreciation for the incomparable accomplishment that is the United States of America comes through as very real indeed.

22. Circumstantial Supernatural 3.4

23. Biological Glib 2.0

24. Physical Supernatural 3.1