I really liked the original movie National Treasure, so I was looking forward to this one.
The plot in the first movie revolved around trivial facts of American History, a sort of Trivial Pursuit for History Geeks.
I knew about 1/3 of the answers off the top of my head. I remembered many more after they were supplied.
In this second movie, the historical references are really obscure. In the first movie, one of the clues involved Paul Revere's midnight ride and the lanterns hung in the Old North Church tower in Boston.
In this second movie, the clues involve the designer of the Statue of Liberty (not the builder or sponsor, the designer) Édouard René de Laboulaye
and the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office of the White House.
The conspiracies get wackier and wackier, too. This time Benjamin Franklin Gates doesn't do something small-time such as steal the Declaration of Independance like he did in movie 1.
No, he has to kidnap the President of the United States. The mad hunt for the treasure takes place in Paris, London, Washington D.C., and Mount Rushmore this time, not just the North East of the United States.
If anything the pace is even more frenetic than the first movie.
Jerry Bruckheimer and crew do a splendid job of displaying the scenery wherever they go. The sweeping views of the four locations mentioned above really make the locations feel more real.
My one quibble with this movie is that the clues are too obscure. The first movie made a lot of us feel really smart because it played to many of the legends of American History: Paul Revere's ride, Ben Franklin's printing press,
the fact that Wall street was built on the location of an actual wall. This movie has none of that feeling. The clues are too obscure. You could, I suppose, take your laptop into the movie theater and search Wikipedia to find the answer to the clues.
That seems rather tedious, though. Only real History Geeks will get these clues, and it detracts from the fun.
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