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And as if that weren`t enough, we're treated to a second bickering couple - Ben's divorced mother (Helen Mirren) and father (Jon Voight) - to parallel the first and double our displeasure. The actors certainly do throw themselves into the spirit of the enterprise, running around like mad through an assortment of colorful, touristy settings - from the Eiffel Tower to Buckingham Palace to the White House to Mount Vernon to the Library of Congress to Mount Rushmore - but the film, taken as a whole, is a pretty soulless exercise overall.
In order to prove the accusation wrong, thereby restoring not only his ancestor`s reputation but his own in the process, Gates must uncover the whereabouts of a treasure map leading to the fabled City of Gold built by a tribe of pre-Columbian Native Americans. (And don't bother asking how those two things are related because, even after watching the movie, I`m still not sure I would be able tell you).
**1/2In "National Treasure: Book of Secrets," the 2007 sequel to the original "National Treasure" from 2004, historian Ben Gates (Nicholas Cage) finds himself in the distinctly unenviable position of having to clear his great-great-grandfather's name from the charge - being leveled by a black market antiquities dealer (Ed Harris) - that his forefather played a major role in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Luckily, the action moves along at a quick enough pace - including an impressive car chase through the streets and alleyways of London - that one doesn't have much time to question the sense of it all.
"Book of Secrets," produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and Jon Turteltaub and directed by Turteltaub, is a giant Rube Goldberg contraption about a series of Rube Goldberg contraptions. In terms of the story, there are more twists and turns, leaps in logic, conspiracy theories and contrived red herrings than even the most astute puzzle-solver should be required to keep up with.
Most grating is the stereotypical love/hate relationship between Ben and his ex-girlfriend, Abigail (Diane Kruger), an archivist at the National Archives, who are obviously still hopelessly, madly in love with one another and only need one more epic, life-threatening adventure to bring that truth home to them - which puts the audience one step ahead of the sleuthers to begin with. The problem with a movie like this one is that, no matter how well it's put together on a technical level, finally, after what feels like the thousandth uncovered clue and the millionth hairbreadth escape from a fate-worse-than-death, the viewer simply exhausts himself trying to keep up with it all and stops paying attention.
So they acquire the page and discover what Gates was deciphering and sets out to prove that Gates is innocent. Ben Gates and his father have lobbied to get their ancestor Thomas Gates, the man who was entrusted with the secret of the Templars treasure, honored as a historical hero. Booth then leaves to assassinate Lincoln. But Ben and his father don't believe it. This movie has some great laughs and some really fascinating connections from history, you may actually learn something on the journey. Gates completes the deciphering and discovers that it's a clue to a great treasure but when Gates learns who they are, he rips out pages that had the clue and tried to bur them, he would then be shot.
Ben's trek takes him to France, England, and eventually back to Washington but they hit a road block. They believe that Gates was approached by two men who unbeknown est to him were members of a group loyal to the confederacy, and one of the men, John Wilkes Booth, give him his journal and shows him something they want him to decipher. But Wilkinson is following him. At the unveiling, a man named Wilkinson stands up claiming to have in his position one of the pages that Gates tried to burn and in it, is something that claims that Gates may have been involved with the plot to assassinate Lincoln. So now Thomas Gates is labeled a traitor. And to find the clue Ben is forced to kidnap the President.
Want to be entertained, National Treasure 2- Book of Secrets delivers.
Excellent service. Received in time expected. Very entertaining movie. Just as good as the first movie.
If you are a child at heart and have a strong imagination, this is the movie for you. The main characters where the same, but the locations are different. In the same lines as the first National Treasure, it keeps you on your toes and at the edge of your seat the whole time. I found this movie to be quite similar to the first National Treasure, which has a lot of adventure in it. This movie takes you to some of this country's greatest landmarks and gives you that sense of patriotism associated with the birth of our nation and it's era. A great movie for family night, or anytime.
4 of 5 stars for the adventure movie National Treasure: Book of Secrets. This treasure hunt has lots of good action, some surprises and some way-out-yeah-right things (such as, kidnapping the President of the USA). I do highly recommend this movie; fun to watch; kid friendly (its Disney) yet adult interesting. Same basic characters as NT1 but a whole new story. Voight is OK in his role but not as strong as Cage. Same formula, follow clues to uncover treasure. This is the second installment of the Benjamin Franklin Gates story. A very well crafted story with some cool artifacts that all leads to a great ending.
Of course there are rival treasure hunter on the same quest. In this case, the rivals want to prevent Gates from being successful for purposes of hiding the truth about a historical event. I do like Cage in this role and hope to see more NT movies. This is a great Saturday afternoon pass-the-popcorn movie.
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