Movie Review – ‘National Treasure: Book of Secrets’

Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

No sooner had my parents and I seen the first ‘National Treasure’ film with Nicolas Cage, we very soon checked out the second film, ‘National Treasure: Book of Secrets’, on Disney+. We saw this film right after watching the first episode of ‘Flux’ in ‘Doctor Who’! We greatly enjoyed watching the film!

I hope someday the third ‘National Treasure’ will be made. Whether it’d be released exclusively on Disney+ or at cinemas, or whether Nicolas Cage will return to star in the film, I don’t know. These ‘National Treasure’ films have been good films to check out, filled with action-adventure throughout.

The film received mixed reviews upon its release in 2007, with critics saying that it has too many similarities to the first film. Whilst there is truth to that, it doesn’t stop the film from being engaging throughout. Nicolas Cage and the rest of the cast also deliver their 100% best in their performances.

And it should be noted that the film was a box office success at the time of its release. So why the third film should be taking so long to get made, I’ve no idea. Maybe the filmmakers are having trouble coming up with another story as good as the first two films. All of this is open to speculation.

By the way, did I forget to mention these ‘National Treasure’ films are produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, who produced the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ films? I wonder if he’ll be producing the third film of this film series. Incidentally, a ‘National Treasure’ TV series is being made for Disney+. 🙂

Anyway, the film has Nicolas Cage as Ben Gates on another treasure quest again. He and his father Jon Voight as Patrick are surprised when Ed Harris as Mitch Wilkinson claims that their ancestor was a conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, based on a missing page of somebody’s diary.

Ben sets off around the world, accompanied by his best friend Justin Bartha as writer Riley Poole and Diana Kruger as his ex-girlfriend Abigail to collect clues to prove his honour and his ancestor’s innocence. They go to places like France, England and Washington in order to achieve this mission. 😐

I must admit, I don’t like it when a second film of a series has a romantic couple from the first film broken up before they rekindle their love for each other again. Couldn’t Ben and Abigail have been a couple already at the start of the second film and not broken up in-between the first and second films?

I enjoyed how Riley’s character has developed in the film. In the first film, he was almost kid-like and essentially the comic relief. Here, he continues to be the comic relief, but it’s interesting how he’s progressed in life with being an author as well as a computer expert whilst assisting Ben in his quest.

As well as Nicolas Cage, Diane Kruger, Justin Bartha and Jon Voight, the film also features Helen Mirren as Dr. Emily Appleton-Gates. She’s a professor of Native American Studies who is Ben’s mother and divorced from her husband Patrick. Of course, she and Patrick get back together here. 🙂

Harvey Keitel also returns as FBI special agent Peter Sadusky from the first film. There’s also Armando Riesco as FBI special agent Hendricks, Alicia Coppola as FBI special agent Spellman, Albert Hall as Dr. Nichols, and Ty Burrell as Connor, a White House curator and Abigail’s new boyfriend here.

The film also features Bruce Greenwood as the President of the United States. I’ve recently seen Bruce Greenwood in ‘Eight Below’ and he played Christopher Pike in 2009’s ‘Star Trek’ and ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’. It was great to see him interacting with Nicolas Cage when they had scenes together.

I’m glad I’ve been able to see these ‘National Treasure’ films with Nicolas Cage lately. Both ‘National Treasure’ and ‘National Treasure: Book of Secrets’ have been fun films to watch on Disney+. I wish the film series well and hope the third film and its upcoming TV series will come to fruition in future.

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim. 🙂