Hurry people! Treasure's out there and we've only got two hours to find it.
How It Rates: **
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Justin Bartha, Jon Voight, Diane Kruger, Helen Mirren, Ed Harris, Harvey Keitel
Rated: PG
Red Flags: Adventure Violence
Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer are prepared to get a lot of mileage out of far-fetched legends and conspiracy theories, turning them into as many treasure hunts as they can. This sequel to 2004's National Treasure leads us on another breathless chase for another huge stash, doing the impossible in mere minutes and somehow managing to avoid any war-on-terror tripwire. It is not so much a movie as a collection of plot twists tied together.
Treasure hunter Benjamin Frankin Gates (Cage) is back, as is his father Patrick (Voight) and gadget-guru Riley (Bartha). This time, they're not just hunting for some whopping pile of artifacts. Somebody has come forward with a scrap from John Wilkes Booth's diary, suggesting Gates' great-grandfather was involved in a conspiracy to kill President Lincoln. Ben is determined to clear his family's name, but along the way, he uncovers evidence pointing to the golden city of Cibola, an ancient dwelling that makes Fort Knox, Kentucky look like Fort Huachuca, Arizona.
The movie's various plot gymnastics (and that's putting it mildly) lead through Paris, London and Washington, D.C. We have desks that double as safes and ratty old wooden planks with ancient markings. A huge cover-up involves Mount Rushmore. Gates somehow manages to finagle a moment alone with the president, and Riley manages to hack into any computer system they come across with the help of a laptop and what looked to me like an iPhone. Why does he have to help Gates hunt treasure? He could make a fortune unlocking iPhones.
But we all know Ben and his buddies are going to get to the treasure, thus making the journey the reward. National Treasure: Book of Secrets is all about the trip, not the destination. It moves faster than common sense can keep up, but we really don't care because we're dying to see the next clue, and then the clue after that. It doesn't matter that Cage's character can slip out of any trap like a modern Indiana Jones -- which reminds me: the third act of this film reminded me of the first act of Raiders of the Lost Ark with ancient booby-traps and a giant stone to boot. Jones has one more sequel on the Coming Attractions reel. And I bet you Cage and company will have one, too.
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