National Treasure: Book of Secrets by Jon Turteltaub (2007)
6 January 2008Another summer popcorn film, a modern Indiana Jones, though with less action, but lots of ridiculous sets. Still the cast is good, and they look like they are having fun, and unlike the Ocean’s films the audience has fun too. This is an enjoyable brainless action film. I had a good time, but you can’t think too hard about it.
The film starts just as the Civil War has ended, and Thomas Gates (Joel Gretsch) is with his son when John Wilkes Booth (Christian Camargo) and another to help get a translation from him, but Booth rushes off to kill Lincoln. Thomas does the translation, but when he hears Lincoln is dead, he knows he has been betrayed, and tears out a part of Booth’s diary, and throws it in the fire, but part of it is saved before Thomas dies.. Nicholas Cage returns Benjamin Franklin Gates who with his father Patrick Gates (JOn Voight) is ensuring his great grandfather’s place as a hero in American History, but a man named Mitch Wilkinson (Ed Harris) a treasure hunter shows up with one of the missing pages that has Thomas Gates name on it as one of the conspirators, and Thomas’s name is ruined in history, so Benjamin and his father must do what they can to clear his name. Ben enlists his old partner the now poor Riley Poole (Justin Bartha) and goes to see his now ex girlfriend Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger) so he can get a look at the missing page.
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…
They find part of a cipher on the back of the page, which leads them to the Statue of liberty in Paris, and a message on it leads them to the twin desks that the Queen of England and the President of the US have.
They break into Buckingham palace and get to the desk, and it is like a Chinese puzzle and in it they find a piece of Indian writing. They head back to the US and get Patrick so they can go see his ex-wife Emily Appleton (Helen Mirren), and it is half of a clue to lead to a famous Indian City of Gold, but the other half is in the Presidents desk.
They use Abigails new boyfriend to get them into the Oval office, but the next clue is missing and has a strange variant on the Presidential Seal on it, and Riley explains it is from the mythic Presidential Book which has all the US secrets in it and is only for the eyes of the President, so Ben decides to kidnap the President.
They set it up and Ben gets the President (Bruce Greenwood, hey wasn’t he Kennedy in 13 days?) and gets him to tell him where the book is, in the Library of Congress, but says he can’t help him unless he finds the city of Gold.
Gates meanwhile has gotten their piece of the puzzle and gone to get Emily.
Ben gets the book, and finds the clue and takes a picture of it, and sends it to his father’s phone, and thus to Gates, so he gets the final clue that sends them all towards Mount Rushmore.
They get Gates to leave his goons, and head to find the City, and through some Indiana Jones style tomb raiding manage to all get to it, with Emily and Patrick hooking back up, but the old traps are old, and water starts coming in, and is going to drown them, so someone has to stay behind. Ben wants to do it, but things don’t work out, and Gates does it, but wants his name on the find. And when they get out and get to the President, they do give Gates credit as well, and the President returns Riley’s car which he lost to tax evasion, tax free, Emily and Patrick get back together and so does Ben and Abigail, all living happily ever after, or until the next sequel.
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Not too brainy, but good mindless fun. My dad will certainly enjoy it.
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