The intrepid treasure hunters from National Treasure are back for a second adventure. But this time it's not just treasure that is at stake. This time, the Gates family must clear their family name just as they were starting to receive respect in the academic community.
The film opens on April 14, 1865. The Civil War has just ended. Two men walk into a saloon to meet a man who can help them solve a puzzle: a playfair cipher that provides a clue that leads to Cibola, the lost city of gold. The man is Thomas Gates, the great, great grandfather of legendary treasure hunter Benjamin Franklin Gates (Nicholas Cage). Thomas Gates quickly discovers that the men who approached him were members of the Knights of the Golden Circle, a secret society that wanted to continue the efforts of the South to secede from the Union. Gates quickly burns the pages that were given to him and ultimately is killed for it.
Fast forward to present day where Ben Gates and his father, Patrick (Jon Voight), are giving a lecture on the diary of John Wilkes Booth, President Lincoln's assasain. At the end of the lecture, Mitch Wilkerson (Ed Harris), comes forward with what he claims is a portion of one of the missing pages of the diary. The page, Wilkerson contends, lists Thomas Gates as one of Booth's co-conspirator's in the assasaination.
In order to clear the Gates' family name, Ben and Patrick must solve the clues to prove that the story of the Knights of the Golden Circle seeking Cibola is true. The clues eventually lead them to the Book of Secrets which is a book written by Presidents for Presidents which contain all of the nation's most closely guarded secrets. To get to the book, Ben Gates must get to the President. His grand plan: kidnap the President and hope that he will be allowed to see the book.
Like the first installment in the series, National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets intersperses history into the story. The writers go to great lengths to incorporate numerous facts into the narrative which adds to the credibility of the story.
The other remarkable thing about these movies that in an age where it's easy to generate locations through computer animation the producers insist on filming at actual locations as much as possible. This is a much bigger film than its predecessor in part because of the locations used in the film: Paris, London, Washington, D. C., the Librayr of Congress, and Mount Rushmore. One of the most exciting parts of the film is a car chase actually filmed on the streets of London.
In addition, all of the principal characters from the first movie, both in front of and behind the camera, are back in this movie. The on-screen chemistry is evident throughout the film.
There are also a couple of notable additions to the cast. Ed Harris makes a terrific villian in Mitch Wilkerson. Bruce Greenwood makes a terrific and thoroughly believable President of the United States. But the best addition is Helen Mirren as Emily Appleton, Patrick Gates' ex-wife and Ben Gates' mother. The chemistry between her and Jon Voight is wonderful and it's thoroughly believable that they were married.
Disney has, as with earlier titles, offered a 2-disc collectors' edition that offers additional bonus features not available on the single disc. It's absolutely worth the extra money to purchase the 2-disc edition as the wealth of bonus featurettes add to the enjoyment of the movie. In the featurettes we learn how different aspects of the film were completed including the extensive City of Gold sequences as well as the aforementioned London car chase.
National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets does a terrific job of picking up where National Treasure left off providing another exciting bit of cinematic escapism. In many respects, National Treasure 2 is a bigger adventure with more exciting locales than the first film. Watching the movie again made me hope that we haven't seen the last of the Gates family adventures. These movies may be the best movies ever made but they are certainly are a good way to spend a couple of hours. Let's hope that there are more of these films to be made.
This article originally appeared at Blogcritics.
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