Monday, September 22, 2008

A History Mystery

Join Nicolas Cage on a heart-pounding adventure that will have you on the edge of your seat in a race to find the Lost City of Gold. Grounded in history, imbued with myth and mystery, Disney's National Treasure: Book Of Secrets takes you on a globe-trotting quest full of adrenaline-pumping twists and turns - all leading to the final clue in a mysterious and highly guarded book containing centuries of secrets. But there's only one way to find it - Ben Gates must kidnap the President. With heart-pounding chases, close calls, and crackling humor, this high-stakes crime caper is the most exciting treasure hunt you've ever experienced
Title: National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets
Release: December 21, 2007
Genre: Adventure
MPAA Rating: PG
Writer: Gregory Poirier, Terry Rossio, Ted Elliott, Marianne & Cormac Wibberley
Director: Jon Turteltaub
Music By: Trevor Rabin
Produced By: Jon Turteltaub & Jerry Bruckheimer
Distributed By: Walt Disney Pictures
Run Time: 125 minutes
Official Site

History and it’s mysteries come alive again in Jerry Bruckheimer’s sequel National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets. Unlike the first film, which concentrated on America and was filmed mainly in America, NT2 is more of an international story in which the characters (and the crew) visit places like Buckingham Palace, Mount Rushmore, and even Paris. All in search of the truth behind John Wilkes Booth’s missing diary pages.

What makes this movie (and the whole National Treasure franchise) really interesting is that a lot of the “clues” and things have a real life basis. For example, John Wilkes Booth really did have a diary and it really does have several pages missing from it. Well, of course it doesn’t hurt that there are car chase and other action scenes either!

To me, Jerry Bruckheimer is the king of great movies. I have honestly never seen a bad movie (or TV show) that he has produced that wasn’t fun, exciting, and had great actors attached to it. Speaking of great actors, National Treasure 2 has some new ones like Ed Harris (as Mitch Wilkenson) and Helen Mirren (as Ben’s mother Emily) but almost all of the previous veterans return too. My favorite character from these films is Riley Poole (played by Justin Bartha) because not only is he really cute, he’s also hilarious! Nicholas Cage and the rest of the crew were great too.

The first National Treasure blew me away because I’ve always found history intriguing but like many people, can’t stand the dryness of real history books and prefer to read historical fiction so seeing such a funny, action packed story was incredible. I’m so glad to say that not only is the sequel just as funny and action packed, it also keeps the same overall “tone” while still providing a new experience. I just wish that there were more films like this one but since the third National Treasure (complete title and subject still unknown) isn’t due out for a few years, I guess I’ll just have to continue to read about history through fiction until then. Matter of fact, there is a series of young adult books about the Gates family through the ages by Catherine Hapka

Links: Wikipedia, Imdb.com, ReelzChannel, Hollywood.com

Teaser Trailer:


Theatrical Trailer:

10 comments:

  1. this is a really good little series. It will never catch on for the young folks like Harry Potter but good stories to be sure.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow, wow, and triple wow! Love this new look!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Another nice one, Jen. My wife and I really love this movie series for the same reasons you list; because it blends history and fiction so well. I didn't realize there were books with further Gates adventures. I'll have to check those out.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I agree with j.kaye, the new blog look is great :)

    I didnt enjoy this one too much, I began nodding off at one point. I liked the first one better.
    I did like when he kinapped the president!
    great review
    http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  5. Deslily: Yeah, I know Disney is working hard to come up with an answer to Warner Brothers success with Harry Potter. They have these, the Pirates of the Caribbean, and The Chronicles of Narnia!!!

    J. Kaye: Thanks!!! I can't remember how I discovered the site that creates them (the link is up in the corner of my sites) but I've always wanted a different background than the ones Blogger offers. Major plus that it's so easy to put on too (the other sites I've tried took things off, added things, etc. and these don't)!

    Paxton: Thank! Disney has been trying to expand their grip into young adult fiction lately. I'm not sure how good they are since the writer they used writes a ton of other Disney books (in other words, I think they tell her what to write) but the first book is called Changing Tides: A Gates Family Mystery.

    Naida: Thanks! I love both of these movies and I'm really looking forward to seeing how they do with the third one (and who, or what they kidnap then)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Jen: Thanks for the comment on J. Kaye. For Google Reader, try:

    http://www.sjfreed.wordpress.com (it's the underneath site).

    I hope you enter a weekly Thursday's Thoughts Contest!

    Nice sites!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I was pleasantly surprised by the first movie. I had a free pass so I figured, why not? I didn't really expect to like it, so I was pleasantly surprised to have enjoyed it as much as I did. I'll probably catch the second one when it comes to HBO!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I didn't like the second National Treasure movie as much as the first, but still . . . loads of fun and I'm always thrilled to find a nice, clean, adventurous movie that we can all share as a family.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Sher: Okay, I did.

    Mollie: I made hubby buy the first movie for me (we saw it in the theaters too) but I don't own the second one. Not sure if I'll even buy it lol.

    Bookfool: They are good movies, aren't they?

    ReplyDelete
  10. I liked the first movie quite a bit too. I haven't yet seen this one--but one of these days I will. :-)

    ReplyDelete

NO SPAM WILL BE TOLERATED!

Thank you so much for leaving me comments and coming by!

Don't forget to visit my other blog:
Up Close and Personal with LadyTink I'd love to hear your opinion or just "meet" you!

I do leave answers to your comments here.

Search This Blog