National Treasure "Book of Secrets"

[Cbriddle]

Nick is back as Ben Gates and this time he is on a quest to find some more hidden treasure and oh yeah to clear his family name. Seems as though someone has found some evidence that links Gates family to the assassination of Abe Lincoln. Oh my! - what shall he do? Well first he must call upon his teammates that helped him solve the first mystery that had plagued his family for a hundred years or more. Only this time Ben has only a few days to solve this one. To bring everyone up to speed on Ben's team. First there is Riley - Ben's wise cracking, computer hacking sidekick - now an author, albeit an unsuccessful one. If Ben were Batman, Riley - would be Robin!! Riley (Robin) has written a book about his adventure with the Gates family and is busy hocking it at the local Barnes and Noble when his Ferrari get repo'd. Everyone wants a piece of the action and the IRS is no exception. He literally is living the life of Riley. How fitting a name!! Meanwhile Gates is having girlfriend troubles with Abigail Chase. An even more fitting name "A. Chase". Isn't that what they are on? Lest we forget Ben's name is "Gates" and he is the puzzle figure outer or in this case the "gate" opener. Ben is also a historian and ex Navy seal which comes into play (James bond style) later in the movie. Isn't it amazing how these charactors are larger than life. Again I say that these movies wouldn't be as interesting if it were about a ditch digger that collects rare pieces of bubble gum - unless of course they were also from another planet and they had xray vision and ... you get the point. Ok so we buy the premise that the Gates family is in trouble and it's up to Ben and his team which includes his Dad (Jon Voight) and introduces his Mom (Helen Mirron - another Oscar winner no less!) to unravel the truth. The bad guy is this movie is played by Ed Harris who in another collaboration with Nick Cage - THE ROCK ends up dead. One might say some things never change but I don't want to give anything away. Back to our main event. The treasure is in this case hidden so well that millions of people have literally passed over it since the Civil War. Hiding in plain sight. That's the lesson to learn here. Another lesson learned is how easy it is to kidnap the president. Yup the President of the United States!! Ben needs to ask the prez a few questions about a "secret book" that only presidents get to look at. It's highly classified stuff but Ben persuades the president to tell him where it is and what page to look on to help unravel this mystery. I wonder what G.W would say if asked about a secret book? Better be a pop up book is all I have to say about that. Anyway the treasure is out there and to find it, Ben and his crack team have to follow clues which take him to France, England, The University of Maryland and Mt. Rushmore!

National Treasure "Book Of Secrets" moves quickly and keeps you interested with a mixture of history lessons, famous landmarks and the stunning cleavage of Abigail Chase. I would give this movie a 3 out of 5 stars. Go check it out. You'll get a great preview of Will Smith's new movie - this time Will is a super hero. Too bad not the Green Lantern but I'm working on it!