National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007)

Benjamin Gates must follow a clue left in John Wilkes Booth's diary to prove his ancestor's innocence in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

Director:

Jon Turteltaub

Writers:

Marianne Wibberley (screenplay), Cormac Wibberley (screenplay),

Stars:

Nicolas Cage, Justin Bartha, Diane Kruger

5 nominations.

Cast

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

Storyline

While Ben Gates is presenting new information about John Wilkes Booth and the 18 pages missing from Booth's diary, a man by the name of Mitch Wilkinson stands up and presents a missing page of John Wilkes Booth's diary. Thomas Gates, Ben's great-grandfather, is mentioned on the page. It shows that Ben's great-grandfather was a co-conspirator in Abraham Lincoln's murder. When doing more research, the conspiracy takes Ben, Abigail Chase, and Riley Poole to Buckingham Palace (which they break into). They discover a plank that has early Native American writing on it. The plank has only one symbol that Patrick Gates can identify. The symbol is Cibola (see-bowl-uh) meaning the City of Gold. In order to define the rest they have to go to Ben's mother, Patrick's divorced wife. After 32 years it brings back old arguments. After that the other clue is in the President's desk in the Oval Office in the White House (which Ben and Abigail sneak into) to discover that the clue lies in The ...

---

Plot Keywords:

gate | book | diary | france | gold | 

---

Genres:

Action | Adventure | Mystery | Thriller

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for some violence and action

Details

Official Sites:

Disney [Brazil] Disney [Japan]

Country:

USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

21 December 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets

Filming Locations:

Gallery Bar and Cognac Room, Biltmore Hotel - 506 S. Grand Avenue, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$130,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£2,483,297 (UK) (8 February 2008)

Gross:

$219,961,501 (USA) (13 June 2008)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Walt Disney Pictures, Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Junction Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

124 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When showing the map of the grounds to the President, Ben tells him it belonged to a slave of Washington's named Charlotte. This is the same name as in the clue to the Templar treasure that Charles Carroll gave to Gates' ancestor (and which turned out to be the name of a ship). Presumably Mt. Vernon was one of many dead ends which Ben pursued in his search for Charlotte and the Templar treasure prior to the events of the first movie, which would explain why he knew about the hidden compartment and how it worked, or it might just be a sly reference to the first National Treasure.

---

Goofs

When John Wilkes Booth first hands his diary to Thomas Gates in the saloon, there are very clearly four names above Thomas Gates' name on the left hand page. But when Thomas Gates looks at the diary, there are only three names above his. In the next scene at the Civilian Heroes ceremony, the partially burned left hand diary page again has four names above Thomas Gates' name.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
Barkeep: He's in the other room.

---

Crazy Credits

The opening Walt Disney Pictures logo is "darker and more orange" according to the director.

---

Connections

Referenced in Forget Paris (2011)

---

Soundtracks

"I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Cocoanuts"
Written by Fred Heatherton (joint pseudonym of Elton Box, Desmond Cox and Irwin Dash)

User Reviews

An entertaining movie

There are a select few individuals out there that seem to garner everything they know about life from movies, be it political viewpoints, philosophy, etc. and find it objectionable when a movie is produced purely for entertainment purposes. I can't speak for everyone, but as for myself, I don't want to have to pay to have yet another political viewpoint shoved down my throat (CNN/Foxnews broadcasts 24/7 for that), or to be beaten over the head with with the life philosophy of some bazillionaire producer/director that lives in the Ivory Tower that is Hollywood. I can read Zarathustra, the Tao Tse Ching, or even the Bible for that.

When I go to see a movie, I just wan to be entertained, and National Treasure BoS delivers there. Not the best movie I have ever seen, but it was an entertaining escape from reality for two hours and that it was I pay my money for. For me, the best part of the movie wasn't Nic Cage. He has done so many movies, it seems like he has gotten to the point where he is just punching the clock. He doesn't stand out on film, but he isn't horrible either and that is what we get from him here - a very pedestrian workmanlike performance. I would like to think he has another touchstone performance in him like the one he gave in "Leaving Las Vegas", but if he can still keep getting several million per movie just being average, why put in the effort. Diane Kruger was also pretty average. She shined in the first movie, but not so much here.

For me, John Voight, Justin Bartha and Helen Mirren were what made the movie good. John Voight was great. His character was both funny and endearing and the synergy between him and Mirren was palpable. Mirren showed once again why she is arguably the best actress in the business. Justin Bartha was a scene stealer and had some of the funniest lines (along with Voight).