Das Vermächtnis des geheimen Buches

National Treasure: Book of Secrets is a decent film. Nothing more, nothing less. I came out of the theater content, and yet by the next hour I'd forgotten much of what had taken place. Such is the case for most films now, however.

Compared to the first film, the plot is weak (certainly not as tightly drawn as the former) but the energy is the same and the humor is the same, and overall it's still as watchable as the first. Helen Mirren and Ed Harris were also very good, and somewhat surprising, additions to the cast.

Essentially, the movie is on the ridiculous/unbelievable side, but it's worth a watch. I don't think I'd pay another 10 dollars to see it again in theaters, but waiting for a rental will do.

During a lecture about John Wilkes Booth and Thomas Gates, Ben Gates (Nicolas Cage) and his father Patrick Gates (Jon Voight) are surprised by Mitch Wilkinson (Ed Harris) that claims that their ancestor was a conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln based on the missing page of Booth's diary that he possesses. The outraged Ben decides to prove the honor of his ancestor and together with his wife Abigail (Diane Kruger) and his best friend, the writer Riley Poole (Justin Bartha), they head to France, England and Washington to collect clues to lead them to a lost city of gold Cinola and clean the name of Thomas Gates. But Mitch Wilkinson is following each step of Ben and his friends to take the merit of finding the treasure for himself.

"National Treasure: Book of Secrets" is an entertaining and full of action adventure that follows the style of Indiana Jones combined with "Da Vinci Code. The story is developed in high pace, with likable characters and funny situations. Nicolas Cage and the gorgeous German Diane Kruger show a wonderful chemistry and Jon Voight, Justin Bartha and Helen Mirren give a magnificent support. Ed Harris is a very confused and ambiguous villain and his true motives are never clear, Harvey Keitel has a minor role and Bruce Greenwood performs again the role of president of the United States of America that seems to be tailored for this great actor. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Lenda do Tesouro Perdido – Livro dos Segredos" ("The Legend of the Lost Treasure – Book of Secrets")

Finding the lost city of El Dorado, or Quivira, or Cibola (take your pick) would be easier than finding any plausibility in this film. Our hero Ben Gates (Nicolas Cage) goes from one narrow escape to another, as he zooms to Paris, then to London, then to the White House in Washington (with a personal chitchat with the President no less), and then on to Mount Rushmore, in search of, well, in search of ... something. I think he's looking for evidence to clear his family name, in the historical conspiracy to assassinate Lincoln. What he actually finds, with superhuman luck, is something else, something he didn't expect to find. But none of it really matters. The plot here is so wildly unbelievable, so far-fetched, and so muddled as to be a cinematic magic carpet ride.

Clearly, "National Treasure: Book Of Secrets" is aimed at kids. It's a highly visual movie, with lots of eye-popping outdoor color images. The physical action is so fast at times, with lots of high speed editing, that there is no danger that the audience will be required to do any thinking. Acting and dialogue are largely irrelevant. And the film has elaborate and expensive production design.

Not all of the conflict is physical. Ben must negotiate with his partner Riley (Justin Bartha), his dad (Jon Voight), his mom (Helen Mirren), and a couple of others, all of whom become involved in Ben's quest. The film has a clever twist, but if you're not paying close attention, it's easy to miss.

There is no sex, nor is there any prohibitive violence here; it's a Disney-type adventure all the way. Still, if the film can get kids interested in history, whether it's the legend of El Dorado or Lincoln's assassination, then I suppose "National Treasure: Book Of Secrets" can be said to have some redeeming value, it's plot implausibility notwithstanding.

First of all, National Treasure, the first one, is one of my favorite movie ever. I love history, specifically American history, and it had clever references and facts about American history that lead to finding the treasure in a way that is not predictable. That being said, I felt something was missing in National Treasure: Book of Secrets. It almost felt like the writers could not think of any new, clever clues for Nicolas Cage to solve or more suspense without action scenes.

First lets look at the positives. This movie was very well-done. The acting was as superb as the first (Nicolas Cage and Justin Bartha are amazing). It was very believable. Also the action scenes are excellent and full of invigorating suspense. The scene near the unexpected end where they had to balanced the steel block thing in the cave was terrific. All the action scenes were awesome: right out of an Indiana Jones movie. Another thing I liked was the ironic humor and sarcasm used by Nicolas Cage's character and other characters throughout the movie that gave it a light, fun feel. With interesting history references and a brilliant score by Trevor Rabin, what could be wrong with it?

You may not agree with me. But I felt that the ending, and a few other scenes were rushed. For example, they spent literally about five minutes in Paris both finding and figuring out the clue. After that they moved on to London, they spent about 15 minutes there, 5 of them were spent finding the clue. It all felt rushed which tended to confuse me. And the ending definitely did not satisfy me. It was too sudden and I felt it was incomplete, even though the movie was over two hours long.

As I think back to some of the scenes in the beginning and middle of the movie, I forget why I included "negatives" because it was so brilliant and I loved it as much as the first one. But then I remember the ending. it just didn't satisfy like the last movie did. I can't explain the nice feeling the first movie gave me: its what the perfect movie gives you I guess. Anyway, I would recommend this to anyone who has scene the first one and anyone who would like a good crime/action/adventure flick with excellent acting with lovable and believable characters. It's a great movie, it just didn't live up to my expectations or the original's

I will keep it short and simple. Just watched it, paid 10$ for it, it is worth it. Not much of details as you would expect out of a great movie, not much of substance in the movie itself however the acting and the pace of the movie is so beautiful you wont think of the flaws in the intricate plans they carry out in the movie. The subtle comedy is really nice and they have kept the first movie in consideration and have not brought many new characters. It is not a movie that you would think a lot about after you come out of the hall, however you will not think anything else either while the movie is going on. I will give it 7 for the sheer value of entertainment and nothing else and of course the one liners that keep popping up which actually make you laugh.