The trailer for this movie made it look so good that Sandy and I decided to go see it first run, at a matinee, of course. 
It would have been well worth the cost to see it second-run, but I’m a little iffy about whether I got my money’s worth today.
Pros: Once again Nicolas Cage is very convincing in this intelligent and tough lead role as Benjamin Gates (very similar to his role of Stanley Goodspeed in The Rock). For generations Ben’s family has been searching for an ancient treasure that is supposed to be “too great for any one man to own.”
I really enjoyed the history and riddles that was mixed throughout this movie. It kept my mind active trying to stay one step ahead of Ben as he interpreted the clues. I failed miserably.
Ian Howe (Sean Bean) both looks and acts like a wealthy cut-throat should. Dr. Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger) kept me wondering throughout the movie just exactly which side she might be on, or even if she might be on her own side.
One scene near the end of the movie made my stomach tumble just as it did when I first saw the opening to Cliffnanger years ago.
Cons: The movie begins with a stereotypical Disney encounter between a grandfather and his grandson. I was thinking to myself, “Goodness! I hope the entire movie isn’t this campy.” The background presented in this scene was integral to the movie, but I didn’t care for the way this scene was shot.
The trailer made this movie seem like it might have more action than it really did. Some fight scenes would have helped; chase isn’t what I call action.
On my patented 1 to 10 scale, I give it a 6.
