National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets

Theatrical Release Date: 2007 12 21 (USA)

UPC: 786936763416

Studio: Walt Disney Video

MPAA Rating: PG   Contains:[Violence]

Summary: In this adventure-filled sequel to the 2004 blockbuster National Treasure, Nicolas Cage reprises his role as artifact hunter and archaeologist extraordinaire Ben Franklin Gates. In this outing, Gates learns of his own family's implication in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth. Gates must then locate an elusive diary, not only to clear his family's name, but to unearth and connect several secrets, buried within the book, that point to a massive, global conspiracy. The film co-stars Jon Voight, Harvey Keitel, and Helen Mirren as Ben's mother. Jerry Bruckheimer returns as producer. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Category: Adventure

Features: Exclusive to Disney Blu-Ray: Book of History- The Fact and Fiction of National Treasure- Book of Secrets, 2 additional deleted scenes with introductions by director Jon Turteltaub
Deleted scenes with introductions by Jon Turteltaub
The Treasure Reel - outtakes and bloopers
Audio commentary with Jon Turteltaub and actor Jon Voight
Secrets of a sequel
The Book of Secrets: on location
Street Stunts: creating the London chase
Inside the Library of Congress
Underground action
Cover Story: crafting the President's book
Evolution of a golden city
Knights of the Golden Circle

National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets

Format: Blu-ray

Release Date: 05/20/2008

Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 2.40:1

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1

Runtime: 125 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,French,Spanish

Subtitles: French,Spanish

Region: Blu-ray region A (North America, Central America, South America, Japan, Taiwan, North Korea, South Korea, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia)

Nathan Southern

National Treasure: Book of Secrets makes no attempt to disguise its sources. Like its predecessor, this outing functions as kind of a low-rent variation on the Indiana Jones films, and bears the distinct high-gloss production stamp of Jerry Bruckheimer. This is the cinematic equivalent of cotton candy, and gives us virtually nothing substantial to take away from it. And yet, on a completely sophomoric, mechanical level (and even at an excessive 123 minutes) the film feels aggressively enjoyable. It's an undemanding, carnivalesque thrill-ride that whisks the audience off on a high-flown string of adventures, with a host of urban legends that seem pulled straight from brazen adolescent fantasies. We're given desks with secret compartments that house strange carvings, an ancient city of gold buried in booby-trapped caverns beneath a national monument, and a presidential "Book of Secrets" containing every long-buried skeleton that the U.S. government doesn't want us to know about. All of this is gleefully absurd, of course, but for those willing to accept the film's high-flung fantasy and nonetheless suspend reality in their minds, NT2 provides more than its share of kicks and thrills. By the 90-minute mark, when the protagonists reach the said cavern, one feels that one has fallen into a big-budget movie version of the old arcade game Pitfall 2; Book provides the same sorts of hijinks and setpieces. It also feels refreshing to see actors as brilliant and as serious as Harvey Keitel, Jon Voight, and Helen Mirren (in supporting roles) let their hair down and have a good time with material that is knowingly ridiculous. Unfortunately, if Bruckheimer -- sensing the closure of the Harrison Ford-starring Indiana Jones vehicles with Crystal Skull, given Ford's age -- wanted to unofficially spin-off his own franchise, he made a poor choice with the creation of Treasure's lead character, Benjamin Franklin Gates (Nicolas Cage). Part of what makes the Jones films so much fun is their ability to spin outrageous whoppers yet, thanks to Ford, retain a deeply human, incredulous, self-deprecating protagonist with a sarcastic sense of humor and at least one major Achilles' Heel. (Read: snakes). Cage never gives us that balance, not even once. His Gates is a kind of patriotic ?bermensch, a walking historical encyclopedia implausibly rife with facts and figures and seldom, if ever, prone to making slip-ups (nary a one in sight, here). And perhaps as a result, it becomes almost impossible to empathize with him. Director Jon Turteltaub, Bruckheimer, and scriptwriters Cormac and Marianne Wibberley attempt to compensate for this by giving Gates as an assistant a sophomoric, goofball hack named Riley Poole (Justin Bartha); it doesn't work. One can also fault Bruckheimer for some self-indulgent excess -- apparently it is no longer necessary for him to even put his surname under his production company identification at the beginning of the picture, because here the logo appears without a name; instead, he trademarks his involvement in the film with a couple of gratuitous and unnecessary car chase scenes that the film could very easily do without, and that seem purely designed to let Jerry unleash his destructive, adrenaline-fueled urges and identify his presence. Spare us. But these moments are primarily limited to the film's initial half-hour, and after that, the picture sinks into an exciting, groovy rush and even begins to recall the old-time Saturday matinee serials as Raiders of the Lost Ark did. Taken for what it is, and approached sans expectation, Book of Secrets should please many undemanding viewers, especially teenage and preteen males, with its roller coaster-like ride of thrills. It's surprisingly fun. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Jerry Bruckheimer  Producer 
Chad Oman  Executive Producer 
Jon Turteltaub  Director 
Jon Turteltaub  Producer 
Barry H. Waldman  Executive Producer 
Trevor Rabin  Composer (Music Score) 
Oren Aviv  Executive Producer 
Mike Stenson  Executive Producer 
Cormac Wibberley  Screenwriter 
Marianne Wibberley  Screenwriter 
Charles Segars  Executive Producer 
Missy Papageorge  Producer 
Nicolas Cage  Actor 
Justin Bartha  Actor 
Diane Kruger  Actor 
Jon Voight  Actor 
Helen Mirren  Actor 
Ed Harris  Actor 
Harvey Keitel  Actor 
Bruce Greenwood  Actor 
Ty Burrell  Actor 
Michael Maize  Actor 
Timothy V. Murphy  Actor 
Alicia Coppola  Actor 
Armando Riesco  Actor 
Albert Hall  Actor 
Joel Gretsch  Actor 
Christian Camargo  Actor 
Billy Unger  Actor 
Michael Manuel  Actor 
Brad Rowe  Actor 
Zachary Gordon  Actor 
Peter Woodward  Actor 
Oliver Muirhead  Actor 
Larry Cedar  Actor 
Troy Winbush  Actor 
Billy Devlin  Actor 
William R. Johnson  Actor 
Richard Cutting  Actor 
Alicia Leigh Willis  Actor 
Rachel Wood  Actor 
Lisa Sheldon  Actor 
Natalie Dreyfuss  Actor 
Michael Stone Forrest  Actor 
David Copeland Goodman  Actor 
Susan Lynskey  Actor 
Patrizia Dizebba  Actor 
Grant Thompson  Actor 
Frank Herzog  Actor 
Maryellen Aviano  Actor 
Jon Abel  Actor 
Eric W. Carlson  Actor 
Randy Travis  Actor 
Mary Firestone  Actor 
Robert Koch  Actor 
Emerson Brooks  Actor 
Tim Talman  Actor 
Stephen Hibbert  Actor 
Jonathan Emmett  Actor 
Emily Joyce  Actor 
Glenn Beck  Actor 
Judy Renihan  Actor 
Susan Beresford  Actor 
Demitri Goritsas  Actor 
Charity Reindorp  Actor 
C.C. Smiff  Actor 
David Ury  Actor 
Milsey Peter Miles  Actor 
Ben Homewood  Actor 
Michael McCafferty  Actor 
Russ Widdall  Actor 
Hans George Struhar  Actor 
Poetri  Actor 
John Travis  Actor 

Country: USA