Over the past few days, I have been chronologically watching both National Treasure (2004; directed by Jon Turteltaub) and National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007; directed by Jon Turteltaub). I was thoroughly expecting to not enjoy them as much as I once did, not only due to it being a Nicholas Cage movie but also because their novelty had seemingly worn off for me. However, after watching both the original and its sequel, I can officially say that I still very much enjoy both of the National Treasure movies (regardless of Nick Cage). The first movie starts off with a young Ben Gates (Nicholas Cage's character) being introduced to the family quest/story of the lost 'Templar Treasure' (as it is named in the sequel), which then transitions to the Ben Gates we will see for the rest of the movie (and the sequel) chasing down another treasure clue in Antarctica. How the rest of the movie plays out is basically that the clue he finds in Antarctica (plus an astonishing knowledge of abstract and obscure history) leads him to another clue, which leads him to another clue (more obscure knowledge here as well), which in turn leads him to another clue (more knowledge but from Riley this time), etc etc, until it all finally ends with him discovering the 'Templar Treasure'. Although this may seem annoyingly repetitive, it is extremely interesting in the way that the movie progresses and the information/connections between historical artifacts that Ben Gates explains throughout the story.
The same goes for the sequel to the first National Treasure, which in my opinion, is just as good of a movie as the original. However, there are two major let downs that result from this movie. The first complaint/issue that I find is that I personally believe Turteltaub and writers of the film could've gone a little more in depth with the clues that led Ben and the rest of the gang to Cibola ('The City of Gold'). This is something that the first movie excelled at, having a ton of clues with super interesting connections to each other that only Ben Gates seems to know (connections that the audience is able to learn about along the way). National Treasure: Book of Secrets does not succeed to the same degree in this regard, as there are not as many clues and the connections between each just aren't as interesting as the first movie, in fact, it almost seems too easy for Ben to find the 'City of Gold'. The last issue I find with National Treasure: Book of Secrets is that it has a very easy set up for a smooth transition into a third National Treasure movie. In fact, Turteltaub sets up the 'inciting incident' of the third movie halfway through Book of Secrets. However, with the last movie being produced in 2007, and Disney focusing more and more of their effort and funding towards larger projects, it just doesn't look like there is going to be another National Treasure movie anytime soon.
However, if I can only come up with two complaints/improvements (which are entirely subjective) out of two movies, those are some pretty good movies in my book. With a perfect mix of action, comedy, drama, and history, the National Treasure films are some of my favorite movies to watch. My main reason for loving these movies are the connections between historical artifacts and clues that no one before Ben Gates has been able to solve/figure out (even though I criticized the second film for this). To think about the fact that in the hundreds of years that these 'treasures' have been around, no one before Ben Gates and his team has found all of the clues and drawn all the connections needed to uncover these lost 'treasures', it's really cool to think about and to watch happen (even if it isn't really real).
In conclusion, for all the reasons and evidence described above (plus more), it is my personal opinion that the National Treasure film series is a fantastic set of movies not only for the historian like me, but is a good film just to sit down and enjoy either by yourself or with your family. I do not hesitate to give the series as a whole a 'Good, Good' Be Reel Rating due to the simple fact that Ben Gate's adventures are still entertaining and fun to watch time and time again.
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