Product Description

From Jerry Bruckheimer producer of PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN comes the definitive NATIONAL TREASURE. Get closer to the edge of your seat with the 2-Disc Collector's Edition Blu-ray of this thrilling adventure starring Academy Award(R) Winners Jon Voight (Best Actor COMING HOME 1978) and Nicolas Cage (Best Actor LEAVING LAS VEGAS 1995) as Benjamin Franklin Gates. Since boyhood Gates has been obsessed with finding the legendary Knights Templar Treasure the greatest fortune known to man. As he tries to find and decipher ancient riddles that will lead him to it Gates is dogged by a ruthless enemy (Sean Bean THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy). Now in a race against time Gates must steal one of America's most sacred and guarded documents -- the Declaration of Independence -- or let it and a key clue to the mystery fall into dangerous hands. Heart-pounding chases close calls and the FBI turn Gates' quest into a high-stakes crime caper and the most exciting treasure hunt you've ever experienced now with a treasure trove of new special features.System Requirements:Running Time: 131 minutesFormat: BLU-RAY DISC Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLERS Rating: PG UPC: 786936752526 Manufacturer No: 05619500

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #799 in DVD
• Brand: Buena Vista Home Video
• Released on: 2008-05-20
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: AC-3, Collector's Edition, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: English, Spanish
• Subtitled in: English
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 131 minutes

Amazon.com
Like a Hardy Boys mystery on steroids, National Treasure offers popcorn thrills and enough boyish charm to overcome its rampant silliness. Although it was roundly criticized as a poor man's rip-off of Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Da Vinci Code, it's entertaining on its own ludicrous terms, and Nicolas Cage proves once again that one actor's infectious enthusiasm can compensate for a multitude of movie sins. The contrived plot involves Cage's present-day quest for the ancient treasure of the Knights Templar, kept secret through the ages by Freemasons past and present. Finding the treasure requires the theft of the Declaration of Independence (there are crucial treasure clues on the back, of course!), so you can add "caper comedy" to this Jerry Bruckheimer production's multi-genre appeal. Nobody will ever accuse director Jon Turtletaub of artistic ambition, but you've got to admit he serves up an enjoyable dose of PG-rated entertainment, full of musty clues, skeletons, deep tunnels, and harmless adventure in the old-school tradition. It's a load of hokum, but it's fun hokum, and that makes all the difference. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker
A somewhat entertaining treasure-hunt movie-suspension of disbelief required. Nicolas Cage stars as an explorer out to find some buried riches left behind by the Founding Fathers. The would-be crackling dialogue is damply delivered, but there's fun to be had in the director Jon Turteltaub's constantly shifting monument locations (from Washington, D.C., to Philadelphia) and the puzzle-work clues that move the plot. The film is playfully pointless. -Bruce Diones
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Review
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Customer Reviews

Not as good as the first film
This film is entertaining but does not live up to the first one, which is rather a pity.

National Treasure 2--Book of Secrets
This was a fun movie to just escape in for the evening. No thought required.

The Knights of the Golden Circle
National Treasure 2 Book of Secrets takes the viewer along on another one of Ben Gates' action packed adventures.
The film picks up shortly after where the first movie left off. Mitch Wilkinson, a Confederate general's descendent, produces evidence pointing to Thomas Gates', Ben Gates' ancestor, involvement in plotting together with John Wilkes Booth to kill Abraham Lincoln. Ben Gates will try to clear his ancestor's name while embarking on a treasure hunt in search of Cibola, the legendary lost Indian city of gold.
Nicolas Cage, Diane Kruger (who is beautiful!), Ed Harris, Jon Voight, Helen Mirren, Harvey Keitel, Justin Bartha, and the rest of this great cast have truly outdone themselves with their performances, which are outstanding to say the least! All the actors, without exceptions, give it their 100% and it really shows (the chemistry is AMAZING)! Very well written and very well presented, it combines mystery, action, and adventure, making it one of the best films of its kind.
On the negative side:
1) What parents would allow their son to sacrifice himself to save them??? NONE!
2) The openly and provocative anti-southern/anti-confederate bias.
All right they lost, now leave them alone!
At the same time this blind and without-questions-asked adoration of Abraham Lincoln without presenting the actual truth about him regarding his political stance during the 1858 Illinois Lincoln-Douglas debates, his actions/policies/decrees from 1861 to 1865 as well as the overall legality of the American Civil War, takes away from any
The hypocrisy and double standards remain unabated as the Sons of Liberty are often viewed as heroes, but the Knights of the Golden Circle are described in the film as "an extremist group."
Moreover, technically John Wilkes Booth was indeed a murderer, but not a `traitor,' since he was a southerner.
In short, it's the same old/usual cliché involving one of Hollywood's favorite villains/scapegoats: Southerners (it must have been really difficult to include Germans, Serbs or Russians in this one although there are a few jabs against Queen Victoria...).
3) The overly exaggerated relationship/behavior between the two parents. It got tiring very early on.
Nevertheless, despite these setbacks the movie is highly entertaining.
Additionally, the part about how the United States used to be "they" before the Civil War only to become "it" after the Civil War, was very interesting.
The acting, the setting, the plot, the special effects, and the music are all wonderful and along with the mystery that accompanies this film will keep you on your toes throughout the entire movie.
In short, National Treasure 2 Book of Secrets is a movie definitely worth watching as it will surely provide for an evening's entertainment, though it could have easily avoided the mistakes it made. 4.4 Stars