National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets

Walt Disney Home Entertainment

Release: May 20, 2008

MSRP: $34.99

It was a given with the success of the original National Treasure, that a sequel was going to be made. If a movie grosses $350 million worldwide, it is a guarantee that there will have to be a sequel of some capacity. That is exactly what we got with National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets, the sequel to the original with Benjamin Gates and Riley returning for another adventure, and it is now on Blu-ray.

The sequel kicks off with Ben Gates (Nicolas Cage) being told by Mitch Wilkinson (Ed Harris) that a page in the diary of Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth, links the great-great grandfather of Gates to the assassination.

The story simply cannot end here, as that diary page has all types of clues on it with Gates hell-bent on proving his great-great grandfather was innocent, and saving the Gates name.

Gates’ father Patrick (Jon Voight) returns, as does ex-girlfriend Abigail (Diane Kruger) to help out Ben and Riley.

This is a far-reaching adventure which is just as unbelievable as the original, but in a good way. Seeing how the first National Treasure went, you kind of know what to expect from Ben with the problem-solving and such.

The modern-day Indiana Jones manages to keep on going though as Gates tries to clear his family name, and may run into the city of gold at the same time. It is not as good as the original due to the fact that it has the same formula as the original, but it is still damn fun to watch.

The video quality for National Treasure 2 on Blu-ray is presented in 1080p with an AVC MPEG-4 video encoding, and is presented in 2.40:1 aspect ratio.

The source material for the transfer was top-notch, so it is pretty obvious what you are going to get with the Blu-ray release here. The transfer looks tremendous, with the only drawback being that black levels may not be up to snuff.

The audio is presented in a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix, rather than the usual uncompressed PCM track we have become used to from Disney.

The audio mix, I suspected, would have gone over-the-top with the action elements. It instead goes for a far more dynamic and polished approach to it with some great bass, dialogue, and sound effects. The surround channels could have certainly been used a bit more in spots though.

In terms of special features, there is some great stuff on the Blu-ray release. The first is audio commentary with Director Jon Turtletaub and actor Jon Voight. They are extremely lively during the entire commentary and give great insight into the sequel, and the entire production.

There is also a 60-minute documentary called Secrets of a Sequel, which is split up into eight parts, covering everything from top-to-bottom on how the film was made. If you wanted to know about the production in any manner, you will likely learn about it here.

Beyond that there are 20-minutes of deleted scenes, as well as a blooper reel which runs for around 5-minutes. Two bonus deleted scenes are also included on the Blu-ray release.

 

Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is a video feature that is integrated into the main film, called Book of History: Fact and Fiction of National Treasure. Once this feature is activated, it will launch during the film and give you history about the movie, telling you what is real, fake etc. This is a great way to watch the film.

National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets on Blu-ray is an absolutely terrific release from Disney Home Entertainment. The film may not be as good as the original, only because of the lack of originality. It still makes for an amazingly-fun popcorn flick though, and a great release on Blu-ray.

Film: 8.5

Not as good as the original due to a lack of originality, a great popcorn flick though.

Video: 8.9

The Blu-ray transfer is near-perfect, with minor problems having to do with the black levels.

Audio: 8.8

A nice audio mix, not as over-the-top as expected. Rear channels could have been used a bit more effectively.

Special Features: 8.7

A very nice set of features for the release, the exclusive Blu-ray feature is extremely enjoyable.

Final Score: 8.8