That is, of course, until a descendant of Confederate General Wilkinson appears at a presentation Ben and his father (Jon Voight) are giving about the night Lincoln was shot. This man, Mitch Wilkinson (Ed Harris), presents to the assembly a missing page from John Wilkes Booth's diary, which implicates a member of the Gates family in Lincoln's assassination.
Now Ben and the rest of the group must, once again, decipher a series of puzzles and clues in order to unravel the mystery that surrounds Lincoln's assassination and the events that played out that night. Following in the footsteps of the previous movie, Ben, Riley (Justin Bartha), Abigail (Kruger), his father and even his mother (played by Helen Mirren), will end up having to perform a several extremely dangerous capers in order to find their way to yet another hidden treasure, The Lost City of Gold.
This time, their adventure will take them to Paris, London (where they will have to break into Buckingham Palace), The White House (where they will have to break into The Oval Office) and a few other memorable locations (that involve slightly less spectacular break-ins). This adventure will even lead the group in search of a book created by and viewed only by The Presidents of the United States, known as The Book of Secrets. This book contains almost every national secret from the Kennedy assassination, to Watergate and Area 51.
Featurettes include a documentary on the facts and myths used in the movie, The Golden Circle, an on-location film and even a bit about the Library of Congress and how they created The City of Gold. These documentaries (not to mention the bloopers and outtakes) should keep most fans busy for a while.
The only real problem I have with this movie is that even though Gates and the others go through all the trouble of hunting down the City of Gold, it really does nothing to disprove their ancestor's supposed role in Lincoln's death. The entire plot starts off because Thomas Gates' name appears on a page that lists known conspirators. Ben and his dad claim a different story to the one Wilkinson tells, but just because they've uncovered a hidden cipher on the page and it leads to an ancient treasure, doesn't lend any credence to their story. But this detail aside, I enjoyed the film, and fans of the previous installment won't be too displeased.
