The film begins in the mid-1800s. A man, Thomas Gates, is asked to decode a message from a diary. He finds out that it’s a Playfair cipher and translates it.

Shortly after, though, a guy who asked Gates about the message, John Wilkes Booth, kills President Lincoln at a theater. Not only that, but it also turns out that Booth and his assistant, Michael O’Laughlen, are trying to help the Confederacy. Even worse, O’Laughlin shoots Thomas, who has one last chance to tell his son the keyword for the cipher. Then he dies.

In the present day, a man, Ben Gates, discusses Thomas Gates at a Civilian Heroes conference. However, the attendees believe that Thomas Gates was involved with Lincoln’s assassination. That disappoints both Ben and his father, Patrick.

But Ben discovers a surprise about the cipher—and it’s a big deal. He learns that in order to solve everything related to it, he needs to visit a few places around the world.

The scene switches to a young man, Riley Poole, who is at a book signing claiming that he is the author of a particular book. Right after his car is towed, he ends up joining Ben on his mission. In addition, Ben’s ex, Abigail comes along.

The first stop is London. Riley hides in a bathroom stall while secretly communicating with Ben. However, a miscommunication causes Ben to make a scene with Abigail, leading them to be kicked out of the building and locked up nearby. But they use a plan to escape.

Meanwhile, a guy, Mitch, wants to sabotage Ben’s mission. So, he clones Patrick’s cell phone to track down Ben.

Later, the three are in Paris continuing their mission. But they do something that brings in the police, who are luckily able to help them with the next step.

At some point, they find out that they need a specific item—except that it happens to be in the Oval Office at the Whitehouse. Abigail convinces her boyfriend, Connor, who works there, to let them in. But he can’t.

That prompts Ben with a risky idea: to kidnap the president. Of course, the others consider him crazy.

But Ben successfully sneaks into the president’s birthday party and separates him from secret service. He takes the president into a tunnel and asks him about a particular secret book. The president gives him the answers but warns him that if he doesn’t succeed with finding it, he will receive federal charges for kidnapping the president.

Ben, Abigail, and Riley go to the Library of Congress to find that book. After searching for a while, though, they get caught by authorities. But they do get a brief look inside the book.

Their final destination is Mount Rushmore. But Mitch is continuing to compete against Ben. Stakes even rise, especially when the inside of the cave everyone is in gets filled with water.

But can Ben and his assistants solve the cipher and complete their mission?

Although this movie was made by Disney, it is more for adults and older kids due to the characters being grown-ups and solving complicated problems. Yet it is still appropriate for all ages.

However, it is important to pay close attention to certain details. And it’s easy to get lost, regardless of how old you are. That was a pitfall for me.

On the bright side, there is enough information for it to stand on its own. It is a sequel to a movie released in 2004.

Like other good films, the pacing in this one was quick. It felt like it was shorter than 2 hours.

The adventurous parts were fun to watch—especially when they added high levels of tension. There were also some funny moments, such as when Ben made a scene at a site in London on purpose.

Overall, I enjoyed National Treasure: Book of Secrets. It was a fun, action-packed film.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars.