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National Treasure: Book of Secrets
Walt Disney Pictures

National Treasure: Book of Secrets reviews


5.0

based on 26 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 95 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: PG for some violence and action

Starring Nicolas Cage, Jon Voight, Harvey Keitel, Ed Harris, Diane Kruger, Justin Bartha, Bruce Greenwood, and Helen Mirren

When a missing page from the diary of John Wilkes Booth surfaces, Ben's great-great grandfather is suddenly implicated as a key conspirator in Abraham Lincoln's death. Determined to prove his ancestor's innocence, Ben follows an international chain of clues that takes him on a chase from Paris to London and ultimately back to America. This journey leads Ben and his crew not only to surprising revelations, but also to the trail of the world's most treasured secrets. (Walt Disney Pictures)

GENRE(S):	Action \| Adventure
WRITTEN BY:	Charles Segars (characters), Oren Aviv (characters) , Jim Kouf (characters) Terry Rossio (story), Ted Elliott (story) Marianne Wibberley (& story), Cormac Wibberley (& story)
DIRECTED BY:	Jon Turteltaub
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: May 20, 2008 Theatrical: December 21, 2007
RUNNING TIME:	124 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub

A welcome throwback to family-friendly PG moviemaking.

LA Weekly Luke Y. Thompson

This ain’t "The Da Vinci Code," folks, and the reason you can tell is that it’s actually quite entertaining.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Cage is back in crackling good form in National Treasure: Book of Secrets.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Director Jon Turteltaub has fun with Indian glyphs, giant stone pulleys, and an Indy Jones-worthy City of Gold located beneath the rocky shoals of Mount Rushmore.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

It's a measure of the film's infectious goofiness that Cage seems altogether more interested in clearing the name of a long-dead ancestor than in finding a city of gold.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

It contains all the elements from the original film...But that's the problem: It's virtually the same movie with new locations. Oh, plus Helen Mirren. Not a bad addition, but the popcorn fun is gone.

Variety Justin Chang

Graced with some extra star wattage courtesy of Helen Mirren and Ed Harris, this diminishing-returns sequel sends Nicolas Cage on another quest to strike it rich, get young auds excited about history and solve puzzles that are generally less stimulating than yesterday's Sudoku.

The New York Times Matt Zoller Seitz

Like its predecessor, “National Treasure,” this sequel amounts to a bunch of crossword puzzle answers stitched together with explosions, chases and displays of intuitive reasoning that the “Twin Peaks” F.B.I. agent Dale Cooper would reject as too right-brained.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

A strictly by-the-book sequel: It doesn't cheat series fans but it doesn't offer many thrills or surprises or lingering puzzles, either.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Often as noisy, dippy, and enjoyable as 2004's "National Treasure," and when it's not, it's just another sequel, more absurd than most.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

No better than the first – which means it will probably be creamed by critics and make a jillion dollars. But really, standards are standards.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The movie has terrific if completely unbelievable special effects. The actors had fun, I guess. You might, too, if you like goofiness like this.

USA Today Claudia Puig

This sequel is what you would expect: If you liked the original, you'll probably enjoy this retread. But be warned: It bogs down in a drawn-out scene near the end. There's certainly nothing to treasure about this movie, but if a popcorn movie with moderate intrigue and occasional humor is what you're after, this is just the ticket.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Leave it to coproducer Jerry Bruckheimer to revive the Indiana Jones cycle without the period setting, the camp elements, or Spielberg's efficiency; director Jon Turteltaub just plods along, and the script by Marianne and Cormac Wibberley is equally poker-faced.

TV Guide Ken Fox

It shares all the original's shortcomings —--it’s too long and too loud and filled with historical disinformation -- but none of the snap that made "National Treasure" fun for kids and a guilty pleasure for some adults.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Crust

Everything has been significantly amped up -- bigger, louder, further removed from reality -- but it also feels that much more forced. Cage and Kruger seem like they're not having much fun this time around, and Bartha still gets the best throwaway lines.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

If there was an iota of plausibility to any of this, we could forgive the film's greater leaps of imagination - all those break-ins of absurdly unprotected bastions of Western civilization. But this is not audience-participation suspense. All you can do is sit and watch, and wish there was more wonder.

Empire Andrew Osmond

A turgid action sequel that loses sight of plot and characters in its humourless efforts to impress.

Film Threat Mark Bell

Is the film fun? Yeah, in that campy kind of "The Mummy" way, but it is also weak as a sequel in that very campy "The Mummy Returns" type of way.

Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones

Book of Secrets isn’t so much a romp as a long trudge through American history factoids and conspiracy-theory gobbledygook. Cool car chase, though.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

All you want from a movie like this, really, is a little brainless fun, and it keeps holding out on you. Everyone looks fatigued. Even Cage’s toupee seems ambivalent about having signed on for a sequel.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Like a grade-school version of an Indiana Jones adventure.

Premiere Eric Alt

The movie does feature a nice, teasing chemistry between veteran actors Voight and Mirren (who clearly relishes the chance to break out of stuffy melodrama), but this shallow, empty puzzle requires more than playful banter to satisfy audiences willing to pay to play.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

"Mindless" applies, and Book of Secrets is more like a tame, endlessly repetitive amusement park ride than a motion picture.

New York Post Kyle Smith

It's another flick about maps, landmarks and buried treasure that makes "The Da Vinci Code" look like TOLSTOY.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Jason McBride

Throughout all this, Cage's lazy, dull performance – who knew there were so many ways to express smugness? – is enlivened only by poorly timed bursts of exuberance.

The average user rating for this movie is 5.0 (out of 10) based on 95 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Gazcomsat gave it a2:
I liked the first film but the sequel is just plain bad. Some of the scenes are just totally cringe-worthy particularly the one where Nick Gage pretends to lose his mind to get arrested. I found this and the so called argumentative banter between Voight and Mirren very uncomfortable to watch. I couldn't wait for this movie to be over.

Frank V. gave it a3:
The movie was poor. Plot was full of flaws and holes and puzzle solving and action sequences (main part of the movie) are uninteresting. Even Cage looked bad. But I didn't expect anything else.

Brad B. gave it a7:
Very suspensful, satisfing sequel.

Erratic C. gave it a10:
A film for everyone except the nerdy "critics" who study every scene with a microscope searching for flaws. Once again, the average rating is obviously shenanigans. This film is great, and like its predecessor it has an actual plot, which makes it stand out among the gray sea of run-off-the-mill movies that rely on expensive scenery, overuse of special effects oh and excessive violence.

Alisa H. gave it a6:
This movie was acceptable, but it really didn't bring new elements to the franchise. I found the first movie more charming than the second, but it just didn't spark me as the first one did. The acting was good, not spectacular, Cage did a fine job but he looked like he was 50 in the story for supposedly being a few years(?) after the first one. The scenario with the bad guy was almost generic, nothing very special but it had it's moments. It wasn't great, it wasn't bad, it was just another movie.

Sabina F. gave it a9:
It´s a good and entertaining way of learning history. I liked the actors´ performances and I also enjoyed the scenarios shown.

Arden gave it a0:
What have they done to these characters? This is the lamest script ever. It is an embarassment to see such a great ensemble cast walk through these stupid lines. It is an insult to all intelligence.

National Treasure: Book of Secrets Walt Disney Pictures

National Treasure: Book of Secrets
Walt Disney Pictures