National Treasure: Books of Secrets Film Review

This movie is unlike any mystery that I have read or watched before. In this mystery, the viewers are put in the shoes of the detective. We are following the detective in search of clues; the detective is leading us to solve the mystery. Other mysteries that I have read or watched are usually portrayed so that the clues are hidden and we have to be observant and figure out the clues ourselves and not until the very end where the mystery is solved for us. I also really like how the director started this film. S/he hinted that it was a mystery because it started out with decoding a code to the treasure map. The code was the clue while the treasure map is what everyone wanted to get to.

I also really enjoy this mystery film because all the clues link to each other. Ben Gates, the detective, had his first piece of evidence: a missing page John Wilkes Booth’s diary. From there, he had to analyze every inch of the evidence to find the next clue. I notice that it is not easy being a detective. You will have to know a lot of outside information and have a wide range of knowledge. Ben Gates had to know that there were three statues of liberty, twin resolute desks, and an understanding of pre-Columbian native language. Gates travels a lot to Paris, France where one of the Statue of Liberty is located, then to England to look at one of the resolute desk located at Buckingham Palace. He needs a sense of location and a deep understanding of the place so he can escape security and alarms. There needs a lot of planning into being a detective which explains why Gates have assistants that help him hack into security programs, and lead him to the right direction. Also, many times during the film, Ben Gates have to be observant of his surroundings, and have a fast response to what might happen next because every move he makes might be detrimental to this life. He has to go pass booby traps like the balancing platform. Ben Gates and his partners were brave and took risk, which led them to a great discovery.

What make his film so mysterious are the hidden clues. It is in the form of engraves on historical figures, and secret compartments and doors. What I love most about this movie is that everything makes so much sense since the sequence of clues is so clear. This is not chaotic where all the clues comes all that once. It is a very organized and easy to follow the clues. It is also very amazing how everything just started with a tiny piece of history and could lead to such a big discovery.