National Treasure: Book Of Secrets
Benjamin (Nicolas Cage) and Patrick (Jon Voight) Gates are giving a friendly lecture about their ancestor Thomas Gates when Ed Harris has to come along and be a total douchebag. He tells everyone that he has proof that Thomas Gates was a conspirator and possibly the mastermind of the Lincoln assassination. While this begins a hunt to clear his great-grandfather’s name, that’s not treasure. It’s honorable, decent, and good, but it ain’t treasure. A city of gold is treasure and that’s what the film should be subtitled as the “Book of Secrets” is just one in a chain of clues leading to the city.
While its history may never be a hundred-percent and there’s a sickening amount of product-placement, Book of Secrets at least avoids the serious misstep of adding a kid which hurt other adventure sequels. There’s fresh conflict to be found without adding an endangered-yet-scrappy child and this is a cast that needs no help. Everyone is clearly having a lot of fun (although they could give Helen Mirren, who plays Ben’s mom, more to do), the scene-stealer is once again comic-relief Justin Bartha as the lovable Riley Poole. Bartha has got to get a better agent because this film wouldn’t be half a fun without him and it’s just wrong that he’s not in more movies.
Producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Jon Turtletaub know exactly what makes this franchise work and there’s a clear set-up for a third movie. It may not be better than the other two, but when the films are this fun, it doesn’t have to be.
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