National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007)

Director:

Jon Turteltaub

Writers (WGA):

Marianne Wibberley (screenplay) &
Cormac Wibberley (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

21 December 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Mystery | Thriller

Plot:

Treasure hunter Benjamin Franklin Gates looks to discover the truth behind the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, by uncovering the mystery within the 18 pages missing from assassin John Wilkes Booth's diary.

Plot Keywords:

Fake Drunkenness | Cellular Phone | Fire Alarm | Barrel | Studio Logo Segues Into Film

Awards:

2 nominations

US Showtimes:

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Cast

Nicolas Cage	...	Ben Gates
Justin Bartha	...	Riley Poole
Diane Kruger	...	Abigail Chase
Jon Voight	...	Patrick Gates
Helen Mirren	...	Prof. Emily Appleton
Ed Harris	...	Mitch Wilkinson
Harvey Keitel	...	Agent Sadusky
Bruce Greenwood	...	The President
Ty Burrell	...	Connor
Michael Maize	...	Daniel
Timothy V. Murphy	...	Seth
Alicia Coppola	...	FBI Agent Spellman
Albert Hall	...	Dr. Nichols
Armando Riesco	...	FBI Agent Hendricks
Joel Gretsch	...	Thomas Gates

Also Known As:

National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets (USA) (DVD box title)
Leyenda del tesoro perdido - El libro de los secretos, La (Argentina) (Peru) (Venezuela) [es]
Benjamin Gates et le livre des secrets (Belgium: French title) (France) [fr]
A Lenda do Tesouro Perdido: Livro dos Segredos (Brazil) [pt]
A Nemzet aranya 2. - Titkok könyve (Hungary) [hu]
Búsqueda: El diario secreto, La (Argentina) [es]
Büyük hazine: Sirlar kitabi (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Kansallisaarre: Salaisuuksien kirja (Finland) [fi]
Lovci pokladu: Kniha tajemství (Czech Republic) [cs]
Mistero delle pagine perdute, Il (Italy) [it]
Nacionalno blago: Knjiga tajni (Serbia) [sr]
National Treasure: Hemligheternas bok (Sweden) [sv]
Rahvuslik aare: Saladuste raamat (Estonia) [et]
Skarb narodów: Ksiega tajemnic (Poland) [pl]
Sta ihni tou hamenou thisavrou - To vivlio me ta mystika (Greece) [el]
Trésor national: Le livre des secrets (Canada: French title) [fr]
Vermächtnis des geheimen Buches, Das (Germany) [de]

MPAA:

Rated PG for some violence and action.

Runtime:

124 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | SDDS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Germany:12 | South Africa:10M | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | South Africa:10V | Brazil:10 | South Korea:12 | Singapore:PG | Taiwan:PG-12 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Finland:K-11 | Australia:PG | Argentina:Atp | Ireland:PG | Malaysia:U | Sweden:11 | Philippines:G (MTRCB) | Norway:11 | USA:PG (certificate #43985)

Filming Locations:

Buckingham Palace, Westminster, London, England, UK

Company:

Kerner Optical

Trivia:

Release prints were delivered to theaters with the fake title 'Cinnamon'.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the scene where they are under the Temple in the City of Gold, and Ben Gates turns the wheel. Abigal sets her lantern on the wheel. The lantern is on when she places it on the wheel. In the over head shot the lantern is off and then on again in the next shot.

Quotes:

[from trailer]
Sadusky: There is a book and it has the information you need. The President's Book of Secrets. A collection of documents for President's eyes only. The truth behind the JFK conspiracy. The missing minutes from the Watergate tapes. And of course, Area 51.
Ben Gates: It contains all of our nation's secrets. I need to see that book.
Sadusky: The only way you'll ever see that book is if you get elected President.

Movie Connections:

References "Sledge Hammer!" (1986)

Soundtrack:

Better Class of Losers

A Nutshell Review: National Treasure: Book of Secrets

If I may be able to conjure up conspiracy theories of my own, then I will attempt to hypothesis how National Treasure came about to debut on the big screen, based on opportunities which presented itself at the right time. First, the popularity of Dan Brown's controversial The Da Vinci Code, which was made into a movie of its own, but took a tad too long in doing so. Topping the bestseller charts around the world, it made Hollywood execs sit up and realize that wild goose chases and solving riddles and clues do make an interesting, workable formula. Coupled by the fact that the Indiana Jones trilogy (at the time) probably will not have another sequel see the light of day, then the onus is on crafting a tale based on controversies, with Indy Jones tendencies, and chances are a new winner will be born.

Hence, National Treasure in the year end of 2004, which made a decent dent in the box office, starring Nicolas Cage as an Indy like clone Benjamin Gates, embroiled in a mystery of the Templar's treasure, with sidekick Riley Poole (Justin Bartha) as the tech wizard necessary to assist him, while at the same time romancing Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger), who joins his band of treasure seekers against her wishes. The Indy references don't just stop here, they extend to having a Henry Jones resemblance in Jon Voight as dad Patrick Gates. If you were to deck Cage in a fedora, whip and gun, the references will be just too blatant.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. The important question is, is the sequel Book of Secrets as good as, or can be accredited with the rare accolade of being better than the original? Well, in all honesty it's still an entertaining ride, as this time we go around the world (OK, so perhaps just Paris and London), versus the original story being US-centric. However, like the first installment, the material, clues and riddles are still quite US history heavy, so if you're well versed with certain characters (brought to life early in the movie) or events (thanks to paying attention during history lessons), then yes, Book of Secrets will give you an additional boost in being able to identify with it. Otherwise, don't fret, as the casual movie goer with popcorn in hand will definitely not feel lost.

The narrative and plot still feel a little staged and rigged for convenience (and run time of course), as one event will inevitably lead to the next and to the inevitable ending (like how CSI solves crime within 45 minutes sans ads), but they're still a lot of fun watching how the characters go through the motion in believing that they're onto something really big. While the first had a lot of puzzles to solve, which kept some of us guessing and playing along as well, this time round the number of riddles have been reduced significantly, and signs of Mission: Impossible creeping in as our band of treasure hunters seek to perform the impossible, pertaining to levels of security guarding their mark.

In an excuse to make the sequel, we have Ben Gates and GATESENIOR reuniting to clear the good name of their ancestor, who's recently accused of being a co-conspirator, or even mastermind, behind the assassination of US President Abramham Lincoln. And of course, help comes in the form of Abigail, who's now estranged from Gates, trusty tech sidekick with the complementary witty lines Riley (and his red Ferarri), and now joined by Ben's mom Emily Appleton, played by Helen Mirren, who's in the movie to contrast her relationship with Patrick to that between Ben and Abigail.

However, we're not really interested in whimsical attempts to add depth to characters, are we? Sure they have their issues with one another, and with Ed Harris' Mitch Wilkinson being the token and very bland bad guy wanting to make his mark on history, the focus more often than not is to shift to the next big stunt / chase sequence. Like the first movie, one of the highlights touted in the trailer involves the art of balancing, which unfortunately, was already done in the first movie. Don't you just hate repeated stunts? And toward the end, I can't help but to compare it to Jackie Chan's The Myth, which in itself was somewhat of a treasure- hunter movie, involving the elixir of life (We're still stuck with gold here though).

And add to that Harvey Keitel's FBI agent Sadusky, the office of the most powerful man in the world, and teases from the Book of Secrets, we've got ourselves a handful being squeezed within 2 hours. Not to forget Nicolas Cage's absolutely horrendous haircut, the final verdict is that it's a fairly decent year end blockbuster which primed itself for yet another sequel, courtesy of page 47 of the titular book, if the box office numbers prove favourable.