National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets [PG]

It has been common knowledge that Thomas Gates, ancestor of treasure hunter, Ben Gates, was a famous Civil War hero. But when a Mr. Mitch Wilkinson comes forward and accuses Thomas Gates of having masterminded the assassination of President Lincoln, Ben, with the help of Abigail, Riley, and his parents, go on another little treasure hunt to prove Thomas’ innocence and maybe find the legendary City of Gold along the way. 

I liked this movie a lot better than the first one. In comparison, the first National Treasure seemed uncertain of what it was trying to be before finally embracing the whole part Mission Impossible part Indiana Jones. National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets was much more established and harboured more action, characters, romance, and comedy. Nicholas Cage, after playing something of a wet fish in the first movie, takes on a much more comic tact and I found myself completely in hysterics with laughter at one point. 

It has been common knowledge that Thomas Gates, ancestor of treasure hunter, Ben Gates, was a famous Civil War hero. But when a Mr. Mitch Wilkinson comes forward and accuses Thomas Gates of having masterminded the assassination of President Lincoln, Ben, with the help of Abigail, Riley, and his parents, go on another little treasure hunt to prove Thomas’ innocence and maybe find the legendary City of Gold along the way. 

So this one is still sort of treading in the footsteps of its predecessor with the mixing of the two title genres, but Book of Secrets also harboured a stronger conspiracy and modern history aspect that acted as the real clincher. For me, personally, I find ancient history to be too dated and dry for pallet, but modern history: American Presidents and assassinations and the like is much more digestible. 

Admittedly, some of the puzzles in this movie and some of the feats that the heroes had to accomplish were a little farfetched, not to mention some of the conspiracies that the writers came up with, but all in all National Treasure 2 was a good action/adventure movie, much better than the first one. Definitely more rollicking. 

Starring Nicholas Cage, Jon Voight, Justin Bartha, Diane Kruger, Harvey Keitel, Ed Harris, and Helen Mirren, National Treasure 2:Book of Secrets was a good family movie packed with action, adventure, comedy, and romance. It is better than the first one, I thoroughly enjoyed it.