National Treasure: Book of Secrets Spoiler Review
I’ll start by saying how much I enjoyed the first installment of National Treasure. It’s plot and storyline were reminiscent of the novels by Dan Brown; author of “The Da Vinci Code” and “Angels and Demons”. It contained a lot of interesting theories with a lot of specifics to back it up; made it believable.
All the original actors returned for the sequel but unfortunately the cast and their witty ways were the only things that were comparable to the earlier movie. National Treasure: Book of Secrets didn’t pack the same punch as the first. They probably should have chosen a different title as well. “Book of Secrets” is deceiving as the movie had little to do with the book itself. Sure, the book was necessary in finding the treasure, but so was every other clue. The overall plotline was weak; the treasure hunt was completely irrelevant to the discovery that started the whole journey to begin with.
It started with the unveiling of a 140 year old piece of paper which contained the names of the co-conspirators of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. Among those names was the grandfather of Ben Gates (Nicolas Cage); this began the search to clear his family name. The way they went about it? They solved a cryptic message on the other side of the paper which ultimately led them to the lost city of gold. How did that clear his great grandfather’s name? Fuck if I know, but it did; the President said so.
The puzzles and riddles in this one weren’t as well thought out as in the first. The solutions were questionable in terms of how one would arrive at those answers with the speed that they displayed in National Treasure: Book of Secrets. Even for someone such as Ben Gates the riddles and puzzles throughout the movie would have taken some time to figure out.
A lot of the antics in this one were also very far-fetched. They very easily hacked the security system and ditched the guards at Buckingham Palace. They somehow got access to the Oval Office. They pulled off a ridiculous 15 minute car chase in the middle of London without any police attempting to intervene or catch them after the fact. And, oh yes, they kidnapped the President of the United States in an unbelievably effortless caper.
All in all, this movie was a major disappointment. At least it had its funny moments and well casted crew. Hopefully the third one will be better as this has the potential to be an entertaining movie series.
Posted by Frank N. Stein
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