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And though I usually hate blatant set-ups for future sequels in the franchise, this movie's reference to "page 47" in the Book of Secrets was actually intriguing. I like Nicholas Cage as Ben Gates more than any role he's played in recent memory, and Mirren added a classy touch to the cast. Pretty soon, all of the old gang - Riley Poole (Justin Bartha - so cute)., Abigail Chase (Diane Krueger), and Patrick Gates (Jon Voight), with the addition of Ben's mom (a wonderful performance by Helen Mirren) - are following the clues and putting the puzzle pieces together.Along the way, Ben kidnaps the President of the United States (for about 20 minutes), sneaks a look at the President's Book of Secrets, and re-connects with Abigail.I thought this movie was fun and entertaining.
I thought, "How can they top the awesome treasure they found in the first movie." And they didn't really, but the formula for the movie - treasure hunting, history, and action - still works.In this movie, Ben Gates (Nicholas Cage), now a respected scholar, is making a presentation about his great-great-grandfather's role in trying to stop the assassination of President Lincoln. What he learns is that the Confederate movement was searching for a legendary treasure - The City of Gold - to bolster and fund their resistance efforts, and that Thomas Gates refused to help them. Even though I really enjoyed the first National Treasure movie, I have to admit that I wasn't too excited when the second one came out.
We soon discover Wilkinson's ulterior motive for maligning Thomas Gates - to get Ben in on the hunt for the treasure. Let's hope that the next movie focuses less on finding an EVEN MORE SUPER-FABULOUS treasure and more on some other aspect of the adventure. Out of the audience comes Mitch Wilkinson (Ed Harris), who counters that perhaps Thomas Gates was the mastermind of the entire assassination.
Wilkinson produces a page from the diary of John Wilkes Booth as evidence of his theory.In an effort to clear his ancestor's name, Ben starts investigating.
seller was very prompt with shipping and the entire transaction was very fast and smooth rate a five star will deal with again in the future
People who don't like Nick Cage need to get over it.he and the rest of the cast do a great job putting together an exciting film for both kids and adults.
Good fun good locations good actors good script good everything. Probably the best comic action movie I have viewed in recent years.
- Harvey Keitel and Ed Harris, backed up by also-rans Diane Kruger and Justin Bartha) delivers their lines with a fair degree of conviction and wit, which if it doesn't sparkle with a brilliant diamond shine at least does not flop to the ground, vaguely embarrassing us all for the characters who have to mouth them.The plot is one of those which becomes even more wildly improbable the more you think about it, and the more you know of history; Queen Victoria a Confederate sympathizer. But it is an amusing family ride as long as you don't think about it too much, and the locations - Paris, London, Washington and the Black Hills of South Dakota are superb.The extras are generous, and included on a separate disc; the usual blooper collection of blown lines and crackups, a collection of deleted scenes with a commentary from the director outlining, usually with some regret, why they were eliminated from the final cut, and a couple of production features; the best and most fascinating of these is about the Library of Congress, it's workings and ways, and the very real national treasures archived within. An almost A-list cast (Nicolas Cage, Jon Voight, Helen Mirren - good lord, Helen Mirren.
And a whole watery subterranean Olmec/Aztec city of gold underneath Mount Rushmore, a good many miles to the north of their known cities and strongholds. The historical feature about the Knights of the Golden Circle (who were a real organization, with fortunes which became fatally entwined with the Confederacy) was woefully sketchy. (Don't know how they passed up a chance to have water gush out of Washington's nose; I guess director Jon Turteltaub will distain the obvious, on occasion).
National Treasure - Book of Secrets is one of those slight, improbable, but good-hearted Saturday-matinee-serial adventure movies, kind of like what Indiana Jones started off being before George Lucas got all clunky and serious. Secret and so far undiscovered passages underneath Mount Vernon's gardens. I think producers missed an excellent opportunity when constructing the extra features, to expand on the various historical points touched on in the movie: the assassination of Lincoln, the desk made from the timbers of HMS Resolute, etc.
She must have had the rent coming due, or something. A secret and so far unnoticed message cast into the model for the Statue of Liberty.
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