National Treasure: Book of Secrets

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 58.160.66.149 (talk) at 14:01, 21 May 2008. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

National Treasure: Book of Secrets
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJon Turteltaub
Written byGregory Poirier
Marianne Wibberley & Cormac Wibberley
Terry Rossio
Ted Elliott
Produced byJon Turteltaub
Jerry Bruckheimer
StarringNicolas Cage
Justin Bartha
Diane Kruger
Jon Voight
Helen Mirren
Ed Harris
CinematographyJohn Schwartzman
Edited byWilliam Goldenberg
David Rennie
Music byTrevor Rabin
Distributed byWalt Disney Pictures
Release dates
December 21, 2007
Running time
131 min.
CountryUnited States
LanguagesEnglish
French
Budget$130,000,000[1]
Box office$456,334,789

National Treasure: Book of Secrets is a 2007 adventure film. It is the sequel to the 2004 film National Treasure. It was directed by Jon Turteltaub and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer.

It was stated in the first film's commentary that there were no plans for a sequel, but due to the first film's impressive box-office performance, earning $347.5 million worldwide, a sequel was given the go-ahead in 2005. It took just 38 days of release for the sequel to out-gross the original.

The Motion Picture Association of America rated the film PG for some violence and action.[2] The film premiered in New York City on December 13, 2007 and was released in the Middle East, Korea, and Taiwan on December 19, 2007. It was released in Australia on December 20, 2007. The film opened in the United States, Canada, Japan, Spain, and Italy on December 21, 2007. It was released in Germany and The Netherlands on January 24, 2008. It was released in the United Kingdom and Denmark on February 8, 2008.

Plot

Five days after the end of the Civil War, John Wilkes Booth and another man, both members of the Knights of the Golden Circle, enter a tavern and approach Thomas Gates (Ben Gates' great-great grandfather). They produce a diary containing an encrypted message, and entice Thomas, a well-known puzzle solver, to decode it. Thomas recognizes the message as using the Playfair cipher and begins to translate it. While he does so, Booth leaves for Ford's Theater to assassinate President Lincoln. Thomas solves the puzzle, a clue to a treasure map, and realizes the men are still loyal to the Confederate cause and have a sinister motive for finding the treasure, unfortunately he realizes this too late. The Confederate man pulls a gun on him, threatening to shoot him if he does not hand over the diary, however he is distracted from Thomas when chaos erupts in the bar over news of Lincoln's assassination. Thomas rips several pages from the diary and throws them in the fireplace. The second man shoots him and attempts to retrieve the pages, only succeeding in saving a small piece. The dying Thomas gasps, "The war is over," but the man disagrees, stating, "You're wrong about that, the war has only just begun," and rushes from the bar. With his final breath, Thomas tells his young son, Charles Gates, "The debt that all men pay."

Over 100 years later, Ben Gates is telling his great-great grandfather's story at a conference on Civilian Heroes to great acclaim until black market dealer Mitch Wilkinson shows one of the eighteen missing pages of John Wilkes Booth's diary, with Thomas Gates' name on it, convincing everyone that Thomas was the mastermind behind the Lincoln assassination. Ben sets out to prove the innocence of his great-great grandfather.

Using spectral imaging, Ben discovers a cipher pointing to Édouard Laboulaye hidden on the back of the diary page. He travels to Paris, where he finds a cryptic clue engraved on the torch of the scale model of the Statue of Liberty on the Île des Cygnes in Paris, referring to the two Resolute desks. Ben heads to Buckingham Palace, seeking out the closer of the two desks. With the help of his friend Riley Poole and estranged girlfriend, Abigail Chase, he is able to sneak into the Queen's office to find an ancient wooden plank hidden in the desk. He is then pursued by Wilkinson, who, having broken into his father Patrick Gates' house, has cloned Patrick's cell phone in order to track Ben's whereabouts. Wilkinson eventually obtains the piece, but not before Ben manages to photograph the symbols carved into the plank.

At Ben's insistence, Patrick reluctantly asks his ex-wife for help in translating the mysterious glyphs. She does so, but points out that some of the glyphs are partial, leading Ben to conclude another plank must be hidden in the other Resolute desk, which is located in the Oval Office. With the unknowing help of Abigail's new boyfriend, who works for the White House, Ben and Abigail coax their way into the office to see the desk, where Ben discovers that the second plank is missing. However, he does find a stamp bearing the seal of the Book of Secrets. According to Riley, the Book of Secrets contains documents collected by Presidents for Presidents' eyes only, covering such controversial subjects as the JFK assassination, Watergate, and Area 51.

To find the location of the book, Ben causes the President's birthday party to be held at Mount Vernon by booking all other approved locations. When Ben sneaks into the party, he convinces the President to follow him into a secret tunnel under the White House where he confronts him about the book; the President sympathetically warns Ben that his actions will be interpreted as an attempt to kidnap the President, confirming a conclusion Ben and his companions have already reached; Ben is now wanted for committing a federal offense. Appealing to the President's well-known love for history, Ben convinces the President to reveal the location of the book (which turns out to be in the Library of Congress). The President also tells him to read page 47 as well as the information he needs. In the book, Ben finds a picture of the plank from the desk and a note saying that President Coolidge found it in 1924, had it destroyed, and had the Mount Rushmore monument built to hide the treasure.

At Mount Rushmore, Ben, Riley, Abigail, and Patrick meet Mitch, who has kidnapped Ben's mother. Mitch provides a clue to the entrance of a cave containing the legendary native American city of gold, Cíbola. Despite several traps they manage to find the city, but rising flood waters force them to leave. In the last room before the exit, a mechanism requires one person to stay behind while the others could leave. Mitch forces everyone to let him go first, but rising water forces him to be the last person left. Ben tries to help him out, but Mitch cannot come to Ben without the door closing. Mitch decides to sacrifice himself and allow the others to escape the flooding cavern, and Ben agrees to give him credit for finding the treasure. Ben clears his family's name with the discovery and is cleared of all charges when the President tells everyone that Ben saved his life after the door to the tunnel closed accidentally. Ben also ensures Mitch receives joint credit for the find. The President then asks Ben about what he read on page 47 of the Book of Secrets, to which Ben replies: "It's life-altering".

Clues and meanings

  • The debt that all men pay — These are the final words that Thomas Gates says to his son as he is dying. "The debt that all men pay" is death. This is the five-letter word needed to solve the Playfair cipher, which ends up being the next clue: Laboulaye Lady.
  • Laboulaye Lady — Laboulaye is the famous French sculptor who made the original three Statues of Liberty. However, he only called one his "lady". This statue stands in Paris near the Eiffel tower. On the torch there is an inscription in French.
  • Across the sea these twins stand resolute. -1876 — This is the message on the torch of the Statue of Liberty in Paris. The resolute twins refer to the Resolute desks. The first desk is used in Buckingham Palace in the Queen's study, and the other is used by the President of the United States in the Oval Office.
  • The entrance can be found under a cloudless rain. — The treasure hunters find that when water is spilled on the Black Hills of Custer State Park, the shading of the hills changes under sunlight, revealing an engraved eagle leading to a gap in the rocks.
  • Surrender your hand to the heart of the warrior. — Ben must place his hand inside the dark, narrow gap in the rocks and lift a latch hidden inside in order to open the path to a cavern that stretches far beneath the Black Hills.

Cast

Production

Historic locations

The Statue of Liberty in Paris, France

The following sites appear in the film:

Reception

Critics initially gave the film mixed reviews. Rotten Tomatoes reported that 32% of critics gave the film positive reviews based on 101 reviews, for a rating of "rotten".[3] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 48 out of 100, based on 25 reviews.[4] It opened at number one with $16,739,339 on its first day,[5] and $44,783,772 its first weekend,[6] the third largest Christmas opening.[7] It reached the $100 million mark in eight days,[6] half the time it took the first film.[8] It stayed at number one for 17 days before dropping to number two,[6] and grossed $457,073,336 worldwide, making it the ninth highest grossing film of 2007.[9]

Novelization

Disney Press published an official novelization of the screenplay titled National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets The Junior Novel on November 6, 2007.[10] Parts of the story in the novel version differ slightly from what was actually filmed, owing to changes being made in the screenplay prior to and during production. For example, in the novel, Ben and Abigail photograph the wooden plank found hidden in the Queen's desk and leave it behind, with the car chase following. But in the movie, they take the plank with them on the chase. Also published on the same day was a companion youth novel Changing Tides: A Gates Family Mystery. Its story is set in England in the year 1612 and is the first in a series of planned historical novels about the Gates family. The epilogue from Changing Tides is included at the back of the National Treasure book.[11]

DVD release

National Treasure: Book of Secrets was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on May 20, 2008.[12] It will also be released on June 2, 2008 on DVD and Blu-ray Disc in the UK.[1] The film has been retitled National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets for its DVD and Blu-ray release. The film's official website has also been changed accordingly.

Sequel

Disney has ordered a script for National Treasure 3 which will be released in cinemas in the Christmas period of 2010.

References

  1. ^ "National Treasure: Book of Secrets". alreadyseen.com. 2007. Retrieved 2008-04-18. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ "National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007) - Movie Info". Yahoo! Movies. Retrieved 2007-12-21.
  3. ^ "National Treasure: Book of Secrets". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2008-01-19.
  4. ^ "National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007): Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2007-12-28.
  5. ^ "National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2007-12-28.
  6. ^ a b c "National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007) Daily Breakdown". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2008-01-05.
  7. ^ "'National Treasure' Leads Christmas Rush". Box Office Mojo. 2007-12-24. Retrieved 2007-12-26.
  8. ^ "National Treasure (2004) Daily Breakdown". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2005-03-13.
  9. ^ "National Treasure: Books of Secrets (2007)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2008-01-11.
  10. ^ "National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets The Junior Novel". Retrieved 2007-11-27.
  11. ^ "Changing Tides (National Treasure: Book of Secrets)". Retrieved 2007-11-28.
  12. ^ Lai, Marcus. "National Treasure Blu-ray orders spike at Amazon". Retrieved 2008-04-16.

See also

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to National Treasure: Book of Secrets.

Template:Box Office Leaders USA

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=National_Treasure:_Book_of_Secrets&oldid=213948020"