Fun, But Not Entirely Realistic

Rating: 7/10 (9 January 2016)

Whenever I see this movie, it takes me back to the time this movie came out in late 2004. I seriously can't believe that was 11-years ago. This movie still works to watch today, and won't seem so old. They already came up with a National Treasure 2 and it sounds like a National Treasure 3 is in the works. Nicholas Cage doesn't seem like that big or favored of an actor anymore, and this movie seems like one of the most popular and memorable films he was in.
This movie might seem like a cool idea, as it's an action movie but it's an action movie in a different direction, dealing with history and the Founding Fathers. While watching it, we might ask ourselves if there really is a hidden National Treasure, and if there really are clues like depicted in the movie? The movie will make the treasure and clues come to life, even though there probably isn't anything like it in either the first or second movie, and it just is a plot for entertaining purposes.
Though while this movie might be a fun one to watch, complaints I see from this movie are its predictability and improbability. Watching this movie, while a lot of movies don't seem like they'd happen in real life, but might still seem realistic, for some reason this movie doesn't seem realistic. The action in the movie which makes this movie an entertaining action movie seems like action we've already seen before which I noticed while watching this the first time. You might be able to predict the plot. The enemies in these movies also don't seem realistic. We can wonder if this movie really is an educational movie, or if it's mostly giving fictional story lines from the Founding Fathers and taking us to various interesting landmarks.
Another complaint I'd have about the movie which you might have too, is the characters. I mean if there's a National Treasure movie, we'd want these same characters to be in it. But, I feel like we don't get to know the characters well outside of their interest in history and the Founding Fathers, alongside with their main objective finding the treasure. It also goes that way with the love interest with the couples in this movie. I mean the movie didn't really show chemistry between those two, only added it because they were characters in the plot.
Some years later, Nicholas Cage would be in another movie with a plot somewhat similar, but not about the Finding Fathers called Knowing. His interest in that movie is determinism, and he also has we can say a piece of paper from that movie that also leads to cracking out codes with big meanings. I feel like Knowing seems like a more realistic film than National Treasure and has a deeper mood. I actually prefer Knowing over National Treasure.
The technology and gadgets in this movie are also cool. It reminds me of the technology from my favorite movie an Independent Canadian Film called Junior High Spy. While Junior High Spy had bad acting, I feel like that movie seems more realistic, and it has a more sneaky mood. My favorite movie scene, is a scene from that movie which is a simple scene where Ricky Lazio wanders around the mansion property with that sneaky music playing. It just adds a real mood to it, which I feel like we don't see in National Treasure.
The clues in this movie remind me of recent movies like Earth To Echo, and Paper Towns. Two movies I consider underrated. I feel like those movies seem more realistic.
So, in all this movie is an entertainer and fun movie to watch. But, it probably won't seem so realistic, especially the chemistry between the couple. I give this movie an 7/10. Sorry for mostly talking about the cons, but they're things that just stand out to me.