Entertaining & Exciting. Surprisingly Good Movie.

Rating: 8/10 (7 April 2007)

I was actually pleasantly surprised with this movie. After just one viewing, I'm forced to admit that you'd really be hard pressed to have a real problem with National Treasure. I really cannot stand Nicolas Cage generally speaking, and the same goes for producer Jerry Bruckheimer. But in this case, they managed to come up with an entertaining, yet informative film, that actually managed to be rife with American history lessons & pro-American sentiment, without being intensely sappy and cloying. Perhaps even more surprising was the fact that they kept the violence and death in the film to a minimum. As a result, families could actually watch this movie without the kids getting inundated with killing and gore. Of course, those same kids will get their daily dosage of that when they go home that night and watch CSI, but that's not the point. At least this film isn't part of that problem.
I guess for me, another appealing aspect of this movie was the fact that it gave me a good feeling regarding my country for a change. In my opinion, our country's leadership today is a cruel joke. So to have a film that takes us on a look back at the great & unique achievements of leaders like Franklyn, Washington, Jefferson, & Madison, that was kinda cool.
Even though National Treasure was only intended to be an entertaining summer popcorn flick, I feel that it was still impressive in its ability to teach us about our country's past & wrap that into a vibrant action movie that could be equally good as a family outing or a date movie. Check it out.