National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007)

Originally Written

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Nicolas Cage is back as Benjamin Franklin Gates the now famed treasure seeker and historian. With him returns the unbelievable search for historical treasures, fast paced clue solving that almost makes your head spin, and the overacting with a bad toupee you've come to love from Nicolas Cage. National Treasure: Book of Secrets carries forward everything that made the first film enjoyable, but does it really break new ground and expand upon the first film?

When the great grandfather of Benjamin Gates is discovered to be named, in a recently discovered missing page of the diary of John Wilkes Booth, as one of the conspirators who planned the assassination of President Lincoln, Gates will do whatever it takes to prove that these accusations are false. As a child he had been told of the legends that his great grandfather discovered the location of a city of gold which Booth unknowingly had contained in his diary. This leads Gates and company to try and prove his great grandfather's innocence by discovering the legendary City of Gold. But such a task might be a little difficult seeing that some of the clues to the city's whereabouts lie within a secret book that if exists is only for the eyes of the President of the United States.

National Treasure: Book of Secrets is almost a clone of the first film, so if you enjoyed the original, chances are you'll find some enjoyment in this second installment. Sadly it's not an improvement in the series at all, the treasure is still outlandish, the clues are still ridiculous and are solved so quickly and easily it's almost laughable, and the acting is still quite corny. But seeing that the series is geared towards a younger crowd it's doubtful that the film's inconsistencies or over exaggerated plot will matter. Ironically, this is one of the best films Nicolas Cage has done in the last couple of years, and while his acting is still over the top Diane Kruger, Jon Voight and the comedy relief of Justin Bartha help keep this from turning into another Cage corn-fest. Overall, the National Treasure series is a poor man's modern day Indiana Jones, and that's all it will ever be, personally I'm more partial to the other wannabe Jones series, Tomb Raider, but National Treasure: Book of Secrets is a descent film for the whole family and worth a watch.

7/10