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Just after the end of the Civil War, John Wilkes Booth and another man enter a bar and approach Thomas Gates (Ben Gates’ great-great grandfather). They produce a diary containing an encrypted message, and entice Thomas, a well-known puzzle solver, to decode it. Thomas recognizes the message as using the Playfair cipher and begins to translate it. While he does so, Booth leaves for the theater to assassinate President Lincoln. Thomas Gates solves the puzzle, a clue to a treasure map, and realizes the men are still loyal to the Confederate cause and have a sinister motive for finding the treasure. The Confederate man pulls a gun on him, threatening to shoot him if he doesn’t hand over the diary, however he is distracted from Gates by the chaos errupting in the bar over news of Lincoln’s assassination. Thomas rips several pages from the diary and throws them in the fireplace. The second man shoots him and attempts to retrieve the pages, only succeeding in saving a small piece. The dying Gates gasps, “The war is over,” but the man disagrees, stating, “You’re wrong about that, the war has only just begun,” and rushes from the bar. With his dying breath, Thomas Gates tells his young son Charles, “The debt that all men pay.”

Years later, Benjamin Gates is telling his great-great grandfather’s story at a conference on Civilian Heroes to great acclaim until black market dealer Mitch Wilkinson shows one of the eighteen missing pages of John Wilkes Booth’s diary, with Thomas Gates’ name on it, convincing everyone that Gates was the mastermind behind the Lincoln assassination. Ben Gates sets out to prove the innocence of his great-great grandfather.

Using spectral imaging, Ben discovers a cipher pointing to edouard Laboulaye hidden on the back of the diary page. He travels to Paris, where he finds a cryptic clue engraved on the torch of the French Statue of Liberty, referring to the two Resolute desks. Ben heads to Buckingham Palace, seeking out the closer of the two desks. With the help of his friend Riley Poole and estranged girlfriend, Abigail Chase, he is able to sneak into the Queen’s office to find an ancient wooden plank hidden in the desk. He is then pursued by Wilkinson, who, having broken into his father Patrick Gates’ house, has cloned Patrick’s cell phone in order to track Ben’s whereabouts. Wilkinson eventually obtains the piece, but not before Ben manages to photograph the glyphs carved into the plank

Starring : Nicolas Cage, Diane Kruger, Ed Harris, Helen Mirren, Justin Bartha

Directed by : Jon Turteltaub

Produced by : Chad Oman, Mike Stenson, Oren Aviv

Genres : Action/Adventure and Sequel

Running Time : 2 hrs. 4 min.

Release Date : December 21st, 2007 (wide)

MPAA Rating : PG for some violence and action.

Distributors : Buena Vista Pictures Distribution