Box office treasure

When the first "National Treasure" film was released in 2004, its success snuck up on some people. \nIt seemed to be a watered-down, Disneyed-up "Indiana Jones" starring Nicolas Cage, who hadn't had a real box office hit since 1999's "Gone in 60 Seconds." The funny thing is that the film delivered exactly those weak results, yet went on to gross more than $300 million worldwide. Never discount the Disney hype machine. Now everyone's back for another adventure in "National Treasure: Book of Secrets." \nWhile presenting his theories on the Lincoln assassination and the diary of Lincoln's killer John Wilkes Booth, Ben Gates (Cage) encounters Mitch Wilkinson (Ed Harris), who claims he holds a missing page of the diary that reveals that Gates' ancestor took part in the assassination. To clear his family's name, Gates rounds up his team to find a lost city of gold, which he believes is the reason his great-great grandfather's name appears in the diary in the first place. \nSimply put, if you enjoyed the first "National Treasure" film, it's almost certain you'll enjoy this one. Everyone involved did a good job in making sure that this film looks and feels much like its predecessor. \nThankfully, there wasn't a massive attempt to outdo the original film with the plot. Yes, there's a few more action sequences this time around, but in the unbelievable world that was created in the first film, the events of "Book of Secrets" flow fairly easily. One of the best action-set pieces occurs when the search for said book leads Gates to break into the queen of England's study and the Oval Office, each time dealing with secret compartments in desks. You know it could never happen, but it's still pretty cool.\nThe performances are exactly what you'd expect as well. Cage still hams it up as the supposed genius and Jon Voight still acts like a whiny idiot the entire film. New additions Helen Mirren and Harris fall into place as Gates' mother and Wilkinson respectively, but no one is really trying that hard here. One downside is the lack of Harvey Keitel's FBI Agent Sadusky and his sudden friendship with Gates. \n"National Treasure: Book of Secrets" isn't a great film, but it's not really trying to be. These films are made for entertainment (and money-making) purposes only, and in that respect the film succeeds. It's no better or worse than the first film, and due to the ending it sets up, the third film will probably be much of the same.