Movie: National Treasure: Book of Secrets (PG)
Released: December 21st, 2007
Runtime: 2 hr. 4 min.
Ticket Price: $5.00 Early Matinee
Refreshments: Gummy Bears
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Jon Voight, Diane Kruger, Justin Bartha, Helen Mirren, Ed Harris, Harvey Keitel & Bruce Greenwood
Director: Jon Turteltaub
Rating: Worth a Full Price Ticket
Synopsis: A missing page from the diary of John Wilkes Booth is found and it looks like Benjamin Franklin Gates’ great-great grandfather may have been involved in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Ben is determined to un-tarnish his family lineage. This sends him on a journey to Paris, London and then America. His quest reveals some surprising results and could unlock many treasured secrets from the past.
Review: National Treasure: Book of Secrets is just flat out, a whole lot of fun. It does what a movie is supposed to do, entertain you. It is two hours of action packed cinema. If you liked National Treasure
For big budget action, you usually can’t do better than a Jerry Bruckheimer produced film. This is definitely one of those occasions. It looks like they have found themselves another blockbuster franchise. Except in this case, the second one may in fact be better than the first. That was not so much the story with the second and third movies in the Pirates of the Caribbean
The people behind this film and its predecessor have done a great job of blending fact and fiction. Weaving real historical events and people, urban legends, conspiracy theories and more into a globetrotting mystery adventure that will keep you glued to the screen.
Nicolas Cage (Con Air, The Rock) is well suited in the role of action hero. His action movies may not always be that good, but he is usually good in them. Unlike his previous two outings this year in Ghost Rider and Next, this one is actually worth seeing on the big screen.
Cage’s cast mates from the first film are all back with the editions of Helen Mirren (The Queen, TV’s Prime Suspect) as his character’s mother, Ed Harris (Gone Baby Gone, Apollo 13) in the adversary role and Bruce Greenwood (Déjà Vu, TV’s John From Cincinnati) as the President.
National Treasure: Book of Secrets is well worth a full price ticket. You won’t be disappointed, as many of the 200+ people in the packed theater I saw it in, broke into applause when the credits started to roll.
This is the 54th movie to be seen this year, 51 of them at the first or second showing on their opening day. Yet, this is only the third time that I recall being joined by so many fellow moviegoers, the last one being The Bourne Ultimatum. But, more than that, out of all the movies seen so far this year, this is one of the few that elicited a palpable positive reaction from the audience. You could just tell that most, if not all, had a great time.
What about another sequel? Well, the first one was never really meant to have one. They even changed the originally filmed ending after test audiences thought they were just trying to setup a sequel. But, in the case of Book of Secrets, they definitely left it open for a third film. I want to know what is on “Page 47,” don’t you?
Let us know your thoughts on National Treasure: Book of Secrets in the comments.
