Film Bites

Ben Gates(Cage) is back hunting treasure again along with his side-kick Riley(Bartha), girlfriend Abigail(Kruger) and father Patrick Gates(Voight). After finding the ancient Knights Templar treasure, Gates and co should be flying high. Riley is unsuccessfully trying to push his conspiracy-theorist book. Ben and Abigail are separated and Patrick and Ben are still trying to clean-up the Gates family name.

Determined to make clear his family name as well, Mitch Wilkinson(Harris) uses the Gates to springboard toward finding a lost city of gold. Beginning with a singed page from the diary of John Wilkes Booth and culminating in the discovery of the City of Gold under Mount Rushmore, Riley’s book leads everyone on an international treasure hunt.

Honestly, I wasn’t a fan of the first National Treasure. I liked the idea; secrets kept for thousands of years, only to be discovered by one determined treasure hunter. It makes sense. What doesn’t make sense is the idea of the Gates family being at the center of every major event in U.S. history. I know some suspension of disbelief is needed to enjoy movies like Book of Secrets, but there is a point where my disbelief kicks back in. In this movie, it occured about the time, Ben Gates walked into the Oval Office and broke into The President’s resolute desk.

What was refreshing was the fact that Abigail and Ben were broken up. It brings a sense of normalcy to their story, showing that even treasure hunters with multi-millions of dollars can have relationship problems too. What didn’t jive was the fact that Abigail and Ben make up after finding another treasure. Abigail definitely seems to be a pure-bread gold-digger; only settling for pure gold.

While I was impressed with the novelty of the first National Treasure, the most recent was just a sham. Going into the theatre, I wasn’t expecting the film to be any good. Really, anyone can base their expectations of Book of Secrets on what they thought of the first one; because really, the story are one in the same, the names are changed.