National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets

Against my better judgment I went to see National Treasure 2: The Book of Secrets. Why? One of my friends was in town for the holidays and we always see movies. It was late and I wanted to see something fun, nothing stale and nothing too emotionally heavy. I must admit that I did enjoy the first movie so there was some appeal with the sequel.

This movie experience did not get off to a good start. As always I’m at the movies early and the previews were terrible. There wasn’t one movie there that I liked. Not one! How is that possible? So after sitting through some gut wrenching trailers Disney decides to show this 5 minute Goofy movie about how to get your home theater installed or something stupid like that. It was a complete waste of time. Not only was it not funny, but it was sooooooooooo long and boring. Who’s idea was that? They need to be fired.


National Treasure 2 picks up where the last movie left off. Now Benjamin Gates (Nicholas Cage) is out to prove his family was not involved in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. They talk about this assignation as a great American tragedy. Not so sure I agree. Maybe if the Gates family had something to do with JFK or Martin Luther King I would believe this eagerness to clear his name.

Anyways in a quest to clear the Gates family name gates brings along Riley (Justin Bartha),
Abigail (Dian Kruger), his father Patrick Gates (Jon Voight), and this time momma gates is coming along for the ride (Helen Mirren).

I find the storyline to be utterly ridiculous in the movie. First, Kidnapping the President? Ooooooooooookay. Why haven’t you been shot again? Second, how does Abigail still have a high level security job within our government? For arguments sake let’s say you do have a soft spot for blondes, but wouldn’t you do a little C.Y.A and keep a real watchful eye on her. I’d have an intern whose sole job would be to make sure she didn’t do anything crazy.

I thought the first movie was unbelievable but it still tied things together well. The sequel doesn’t do as good of a job keeping the story interesting and some parts of it seem all over the place and even less believable.

I never really understood the Wilkinson character. They never did a good job of establishing the reason for having him around and why he was so obsessed with finding this Lost City of Gold.

The bright spot of the movie was Gates sidekick Riley. He added some comedy to the movie and help make some of the most boring parts bearable. The comedic timing was pretty good and I laughed out loud a few times. Still not enough to save this movie.

My suggestion: This is the reason people hate sequels. For every Terminator 2 there is a Book Of Secrets. Wait for the DVD or the Showtime Movie Premier. Hopefully you won’t have to sit through that Goofy movie.