Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb

Apr 08, 2015

I get why a sequel to this movie was made. I get it. It’s a way to close out a fairly successful franchise on a high note, at least by the series’ standards. It’s not like the world was really clamoring for a sequel, but they went ahead and made one because why not? Well I doubt that was really the reason as I’m sure the monetary rewards outweighed the fact that the series, in spite of everything it can do with historical figures, was creatively stagnant after the first film. While this film is a definite improvement over the second movie, it’s not like it’s that much different from the other two films that came before it. I think I liked the first movie because it was fairly new concept at the time and it was, while not a good film by any stretch, somewhat charming and cute. But while the story may differ from film to film, this essentially remains the same shit as before. It’s the law of diminishing returns. First time a joke works great. Repeat the same joke over and over again and it loses its effectiveness. Then again, it’s not like you can actually do anything different with this franchise. I mean the title pretty much gives it all away. You can ONLY do the same goofy shit you’ve done since the first film, only adding some new characters each time out. They’ve cornered themselves into this niche and there’s no way to work around it that wouldn’t ‘betray’ everything some people have come to know and love from this franchise. One positive about this film is that there are some welcome additions. Rebel Wilson is hilarious and she’s great here, even if she’s relegated to a minor supporting role that in no way affects the “narrative”. Dan Stevens, as Lancelot, was also quite entertaining. I’ve only seen Dan Stevens in fairly serious movies, though The Guest has some darkly comic moments, so his ability and great timing at playing a goofier type of comic character certainly surprised me. I mean it’s not like his character makes the film good or anything, but he did make it better than it would’ve been without him. Rebel Wilson could’ve also had that effect if her role was more important. I suppose that if you ever want to drag this series’ corpse back to life for a quick payday with another sequel, then Rebel Wilson can star in it and I would be 200% fine with that. The thing about Stiller, while he does have some moments, is that, for the most part, his performance is really uninspired and phoned in there. I just think there’s a certain fatigue that goes along with playing the same character three times over with minimal in the way of actual progression. Larry, since the first film, has been the same exact character. Nothing about him has changed. So I can imagine, as much fun as this film probably was to shoot, that he must not have been as inspired to play this character once again. Maybe it’s just me, but I thought he looked uninspired as shit here. This is why I think Rebel Wilson would make a great substitute if they were ever to do a sequel, which I don’t think they should do, because she brings an energy to everything she does. The movie, as mentioned, isn’t that much different from what you’ve seen before. It does have some bittersweet moments, particularly in the climax with Larry saying goodbye to all the exhibits, and, of course, with Robin Williams that weren’t difficult to watch, but it did remind you of what happened, which then made me sad again. If suppose if you love this series, then this film is probably the best sendoff for these characters that can possibly be achieved. I found the whole thing to be an easy enough watch. It’s something that you get through quickly and painlessly, at least by my calculation. But, because of that, hardly anything comes across as memorable. There’s no chance for anything to really stick. That has honestly nothing to do with it, since you can have a movie that’s paced very well and is over quickly and still have some memorable scenes. Dead Snow 2 comes to mind right off the top of my head. I guess the whole movie is watchable enough. I wasn’t angry or anything, it’s just a movie that exists. It doesn’t affect my life in any way, positive or negative, past just watching it and being done with it. Fans will surely like it, but it’s really more of the same for everyone else and, with that in mind, I cannot recommend it. Well I can’t recommend it because it’s not a good movie, despite having its moments, but you’ve seen this movie twice before and it was better at least once of those times. So there you go.