So today we went to see National Treasure: Book of Secrets, and I have to say I was not disappointed at all! I am a huge fan of this saga, and the second installation of National Treasure I would recommend for all who enjoyed the first one. A few things to point out. First, if you are looking for the sequel to be better than the first–don’t go see this movie. There are certainly aspects of this movie that are better than the first, but the story line in the first was obviously a lot more complex and complete. The story also provides intrigue and mystery, which isn’t to say that the second installment didn’t have that, but the story line isn’t as deeply ingrained in our history as the first. The Knights Templar is a myth that we think of when we think of the Arc of the Convanet or the Crusades, or Salamons Temple, etc. John Wilks Booth shooting Abe Lincoln and there being a mystery of a city of gold, sort of further into fiction than the first book.

Also I was expecting the story line involving Gates and his girlfriend to start up from where it left off–let’s face it they left it off fairly picture perfect, but there were additional rocky roads that were left that needed to be filled in.

Finally, we look at Poole, Gates’s side-kick of sorts, at the end of the first installment, was promised by Gates that if there was another treasure that altered the history of the world, that he would be able to determine the finders fee. In the second installment Gates mother is seen organizing the archeological expedition on the city of gold, but there isn’t anything about a finders fee or the reward, only that Poole gets his car back as an offer from the President of the United States.

All in all, a great story, but this is left wide open for a sequel as there is the mysterious page 47 in the Book of Secrets that Gates takes a picture of, and the President asks about at the very end. What does this all mean. I was thinking about this, and supposed that it might have to do with the assassination of James Garfield and the acts of Chester Author as the vice-president and perhaps to uncover the plot that Author used in conjunction with the Stalwart party to have Garfield assassinated. While the story is plausable, there isn’t a treasure necessarily. Perhaps the third installation will revolve around the gold at Fort Knox or something along those lines.