Following on from the original 2004 adventure, we discover that "Mitch" (Ed Harris) is now alleging that Nicolas Cage's "Gates" family were embroiled in the assassination of US President Abraham Lincoln - and he claims to have proof from a diary by none other than John Wilkes Booth himself! It seems that in order to disprove these scurrilous rumours, he must galvanise his now estranged wife "Abigail" (Diane Kruger) and partner "Riley" (Justin Bartha) to track down a legendary city of gold. Surely it doesn't exist? Well there might just be a clue in the President's "Book of Secrets" - but he doesn't even know if that exists - and to find out, well he's going to have to get face to face with the President before embarking on a trip that will take him to Paris and then to the Queen's private study in Buckingham Palace before asking his dad (Jon Voight) and academic mum (Dame Helen Mirren) to chip in to help them rescue the family's reputation. Oh, and yes - menacing "Mitch" is hot on his trail, determined to use "Ben" to do all of the heavy lifting whilst he hopes to sneak in and claim the treasure for himself! It's very similar to the first film in style and pace, but the story is not so good and the quirkiness of the adventure struggles to stay as entertaining. There's a little too much familial dysfunction from both couples and the hapless "Riley" is much less engaging here, too. It's watchable enough, but nothing much to write home about.

Out the door, the movie would never be made today, it's why people aren't rallying for a National Treasure 3, it's too pro-America and it does really celebrate US history while not feeling propagandistic or preachy, it's done as a part of the adventure. Which also makes it a lot different than movies today that would feel much heavier with the lecture and pushing the anti-American narrative. The movie is about Lincoln, the CSA gold conspiracy, and if it were made today we would have to have a stop every mention to explain how horrible slavery is, how horrible white people are, how America is the most evil country that ever existed, how horrible everyone not left wing enough is. But it was made in 2007 so you don't get that. You get American history, you get characters that respect American history, you get a fun adventure that is, yeah, just like the first one but who cares? It's supposed to be, and it's supposed to be fun, light, action packed, and the sort of movie that the whole family could enjoy. And what you get is the sort of movie that the whole family can enjoy... so it succeeded there. However, it did it in a way where the lore is good old fashioned patriotic American history, and that is a treasure.