Review by Leonard Norwitz
Studio:
Jerry Bruckheimer Films
Blu-ray: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
Disc:
Region: A
Runtime: 125:12
Chapters: 18
Size: 50 GB
Case: Locking Blu-ray case
Release date: May 20, 2008
Video:
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Resolution: 1080p
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Audio:
Feature Film: English Dolby True HD (48 kHz/24-bit),
English DD 5.1 Surround, French DD 5.1 Surround,
Spanish DD 5.1 Surround, Extras: English 5.1 DD
Subtitles:
Feature & Extras: English SDH, French, Spanish
Extras:
• Exclusive to Blu-ray: Book of History: The Fact &
Fiction of National Treasure: Book of Secrets
• Exclusive to Blu-ray: 2 Additional Deleted Scenes
w/ introductions by the director
• Audio commentary by Director Jon Turteltaub and
Actor Jon Voigt
• Deleted Scenes w/ introductions by the director
• Outtakes & Bloopers (5 min.)
• Inside the Library of Congress (9 min.)
• Knights of the Golden Circle (3 min.)
• Secrets of a Sequel (7 min.)
• The Book of Secrets: On Location (10 min.)
• Street Stunts: The London Chase (10 min.)
• Evolution of a Golden City (10 min.)
• Cover Story: Crafting the President's Book (4.5
min.)
• Underground Action (7 min.)
The Film:
Comment: (see also: Review of
National Treasure)
With a title reminiscent of the Harry Potter series
and a replay of some of the set pieces from the
original National Treasure (notably the falling
through a giant hole in the ground with stairs and
ladders and akimbo), Book of Secrets is a harmless
enough entertainment. The sequel lacks the freshness
and – dare I say it – the credibility – of the
original, though I was quite fond of Bruce
Greenwood's affable and intelligent President
(assuring us, in case we weren't certain by this
time, that this was a work make believe) and Jon
Voigt lent a certain buoyancy to the whole affair. I
suppose the action movie aficionado never tires of
car chases, and if one chase was good enough for the
first movie, a longer and more complex pursuit was
demanded for the second. That aside, the coup de
insult comes at the end when the villain of the
piece discovers a heart of gold – his own. This turn
of events caps off a rapidly devolving series of
not-so-narrow escapes, made all the less narrow by a
curious lack of imagination as to how to do so.
The Movie : 5
Book of Secrets begins a couple years after the
first movie left off. Ben (Nicholas Cage) and
Abigail (Diane Kruger) have broken up (she gets the
house; he gets the end tables.) Riley (Justin Bartha)
has just published his book about finding the
treasure from their first adventure, but somehow
isn’t getting the credit he desires. Ben and his
father (Jon Voigt) are on a speaking tour. Just when
the Gates family name is no longer associated with
crackpots along comes Mitch Wilkinson (Ed Harris)
who has his own issues with who did what to whom.
Wilkinson presents evidence that Ben's grandfather's
grandfather, contrary to the Gates family story, was
actually a co-conspirator in the plot to assassinate
Lincoln – an idea that is as ludicrous to us as it
is to Gates. But the public seems to like him for
the deed, and so Ben and company get cracking to
clear the family name once more. No sooner than they
begin, that their international search turns up
evidence about the lost Native American City of
Gold. To find the treasure (which is, of course,
Wilkinson's agenda in the first place) and prove the
long-deceased Gates innocent, they are eventually
led to the even more legendary President's "Book of
Secret's," which has been handed down from president
to president since Washington, each adding national
secrets from Area 51 to who shot J.R.
Image:
Image : 9 (8.5~9.5/9)
The score of 9 indicates a relative level of
excellence compared to other Blu-ray DVDs. The score
in parentheses represents: first, a value on a ten
point scale for the image in absolute terms; and,
second, how that image compares to what I believe is
the current best we can expect in the theatre.
Despite the tendency for the image to black-out in
the dark and night scenes, this is a noticeably
better looking transfer than the one offered for the
original. It has a dimensionality not present in the
first movie. I found no worrisome digital defects.
The scenes inside the dimly lit cave were absent any
noise in the dark air.
Audio & Music:
Audio & Music : 9/5
Alas, I regret to confess that I'm still waiting for
my new surround system, so I will not be of much
help in sorting out the differences between the two
audio mixes (5.1 Uncompressed for the original movie
and Dolby True HD for the sequel), but in the two
channel mixdown from the 5.1 DD, there is no
question that the sequel's audio is clearer and more
dynamic.
I don't know about you, but I've just about had it
with Bruckheimer music. Trevor Rabin's score is
repetitive and repetitive – did I mention
repetitive? - and so derivative, I wasn't sure if I
was supposed to be on a submarine, exchanging
countermeasures with the Russians, or breaking into
Alcatraz.
Operations:
Operations : 7
Walt Disney Studios Blu-ray DVDs continue their
chapter-skipable previews and promos before the
endless loading of the feature film begins. As in
some other recent Blu-ray DVDs, I found the menu
operations to be sensible, listing the length of the
various segments along with a brief description.
Very easy to read menus.
I wonder if it's just me or: have you ever noticed
that once you select a subtitle it's hard to get
read of the idea. Sometimes a different language
comes up for the titles of books and names of
streets but, as was the case here, I couldn't even
delete the subs from the menu by clicking on "None."
Curiously, the BRD of the sequel sports yello subs,
while the first movie uses white.
Extras:
6
Commentaries for the two films compared, I'd give
this one with Director Turteltaub and Jon Voigt the
edge. Voigt is actually funnier than Bartha without
half trying, and the repartee between these two
worked better for me. Maybe it's an age thing. I did
find the director's obeisance to the Native Indians
a case of too much, too late. In any case this movie
does nothing to redress our egregious history and,
to give the slightest impression that it does, felt
to me insulting.
The high def extra feature Book of History: The Fact
& Fiction of National Treasure: Book of Secrets can
only be accessed by players with BonusView
capability, which mine doesn't, but it appears to be
a video game that runs concurrently with the feature
film.
Bottom line:
Recommendation: 5
Rent it first.
Leonard Norwitz
April 27, 2008
