Movie Review: National Treasure - Book of Secrets

Being a history major at a fine university in Iowa, I find the National Treasure films to be unusually entertaining considering the type of made-up history that is portrayed in the films. You think this type of drivel that Disney calls 'history' would bother me, but I am in fact intrigued by the conspiracy theories that are proposed in National Treasure - Book of Secrets.

Nicholas Cage returns as the treasure hunter, Benjamin Gates in the sequel to the 2004 hit, who finds himself trying to clear the name of his great-great grandfather who is being linked as a traitor along with John Wilkes Booth in the Lincoln assassination. Treasure pirate Mitch Wilkinson (Ed Harris) calls out Ben and the entire Gates family claiming that their ancestor was a fraud and the leader of the whole plan to assassinate the 16th president after Wilkinson recovered missing pages from John Wilkes Booth's personal diary. Along the way of proving his great-great grandfather's innocence, Gates discovers clues that lead him to the White House and his discovery of the President's Book of Secrets. The book contains the inner most secrets of the United States, including Area 51, the Roswell landing, the Kennedy Assassination, and the secret to the location of the lost city of gold, which contains a treasure so great that it could have changed the outcome of the Civil War in favor of the Confederates.

With puppet/director Jon Turtletaub being restricted by puppeteer/executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer, the film struggles with character development and character plots. Character modifications are thrown at you without any development or forewarning such as Ben having a falling out with Abigail (Diane Kruger); Riley (Justin Bartha) having a turn of misfortune between himself and the IRS; and Gates' father (Jon Voight) having to deal with meeting up with Gates' mother (Helen Mirren) again after thirty odd years. Like in the first film, Justin Bartha again provides the comic relief, which is lacking from Nicholas Cage. Jon Voight and Helen Mirren, coming off her best actress Oscar from her role in The Queen, provide a great comic team not available in the first film. Ed Harris gives a grand performance as the sly villain, a role he has mastered from past films like The Rock and A History of Violence. I have to give it to Bruckheimer for his ability to provide outstanding visuals and settings. Turteltaub and Bruckheimer keep the film moving at a rapid pace, seldom letting things settle long enough to question the obvious plot holes that were in the script. At least the script set up the possibility of making another sequel with the introduction of Page 47 in the President's Book of Secrets, which would provide for another rip-roaring, historically cheating rollercoaster.