National Treasure: Book of Secrets

"National Treasure: Book of Secrets" is not a particularly great movie. It is not a particularly great story. Yet it compels you to keep watching. And considering it's a sequel that is not such a bad thing.

The plot:

Benjamin Franklin Gates (Cage) is on a brand new hunt around the monuments of Western Civilisation. At stake is more than just Cibola, the conquistadors' Lost City of Gold, but the Gates family name. A villainous interloper named Wilkinson (Ed Harris) has come forth with evidence that Ben's great-grandfather led the plot to assassinate Lincoln. Base calumny!

How a chase after treasure will prove the ancestor's innocence is never entirely clear, and anyway the movie's too busy straining to reconvene the troops from the first one: Ben's estranged historian girlfriend Abigail (Diane Kruger), his comic-relief tech specialist Riley (Justin Bartha), professor father Patrick (Jon Voight). The "National Treasure" movies give you two hams for the price of one, and for gravy here's Harvey Keitel replaying his FBI agent with bizarre facial hair and Helen Mirren - the Queen herself - having a high old time as Emily, Ben's mother and Patrick's very divorced ex-wife.

It's the kind of movie where mom's a specialist in ancient Olmec because that's what the plot requires just then. After shopping for clues at the Statue of Liberty in Paris (that's right) and a high-spirited plundering of Buckingham Palace, Ben and company come up with an ancient Native American treasure map, not to mention the novel (and wholly false) tidbit that Queen Victoria sent aid to the Civil War Confederacy.

As in all sequels, the formula has hardened. Ben acts crazy and cross-references historical trivia until he deciphers a clue, the team advances to the next step of the hunt, then there's a rip-snorting action sequence. Rinse, repeat.

The only time this varies is during the above-mentioned kidnapping of the president so Ben can get at a clue in the President's Book, a legendary tome containing all the nation's paranoid secrets.



The verdict:

The movie's perfectly good popcorn. There's plenty of plot holes for you to discover and some so glaring you can't help but wonder who edited it. But despite it all the movie races along.

Wile Nicolas Cage gets a lot of criticism for taking these second-rate action movie roles, you can't help but realize that his star power and charisma is what keeps this movie franchise from becoming a resounding flop.

There is one implausible situation after another so those who are sticklers for realistic detail, skip this movie. Others will surely enjoy it.