I really enjoyed National Treasure (1) when I saw it for the first time, and I still think it's a pretty good movie even if I'm not realllllly crazy about it (if that makes sense). The main things I don't love about the two movies are:
1)I really don't like Nicholas Cage.Thankfully he's a good actor and fits in with the movies, it's just hard to suspend my "I can't stand him" to like his character.
2)They're really "American". And I'm Canadian, so I'm not going to be able to be all patriotic about America, since obviously I can't relate as I don't live there.
3) As others have said, the whole Abigal/Ben living together thing. Not so much because I think it's wrong (which I do, but you have to admit it's pretty normal in movies these days), but because you are pretty much led to believe at the end of movie 1 that they are married. And is it REALLY that hard/different to have in the second movie them married, then splitting up/getting back together again? I don't really think this would make people think less of the film..
There's my little rant... And as I said at the beginning, they are good movies, lots of action, adventure and clues to try and figure out what's going on. It's just those three little things that sometimes bug me when I'm watching it.
Ohh and I ditto everyone who loves Riley. He really is the best part of the movies, hands down.

I suppose I "get" the patriotism because my dad's American ... I hadn't thought of that as being a problem, I guess. Plus, I think Nicholas Cage is fantastic. I can imagine that's a pretty big problem when watching the films!

I would prefer if they were married; I reckon it would have made for a stronger sequel. What if Ben and Abigail had been married, and this second quest, instead of bringing them together (again) had actually been the thing to drive them apart? But in the end it wouldn't have been the chasing clues, etc., it would have been the way they treated each other. So there could have been an interesting change when they have to think about solving their marriage puzzles at the climax as well as everything else ... Instead, though, it was the typical "second movie" unexplained relationship failure.

You know, I would quite like to see Ben, Abigail and Riley outfox NASA.

I haven't seen any other of Cage's movies, because I'm not allowed to see movies above PG, or, not for six months at least. So, I can only say that he's a pretty good actor in NT1 and NT2.

~Jill~

I would prefer if they were married; I reckon it would have made for a stronger sequel. What if Ben and Abigail had been married, and this second quest, instead of bringing them together (again) had actually been the thing to drive them apart? But in the end it wouldn't have been the chasing clues, etc., it would have been the way they treated each other. So there could have been an interesting change when they have to think about solving their marriage puzzles at the climax as well as everything else ... Instead, though, it was the typical "second movie" unexplained relationship failure.

I would have liked that much better.

I don't have a problem with the Patriotism, after all, I'm American . I was raised VERY Patriotic. Once we had an exchange student from Spain and she was suprised that every we went practically there's an American flag. She said that over here we're so Patriotic it's ridiculous, but whatever .

I can't recall any other movies I've seen Cage in but he's not my fave actor either. I find him a tad creepy .

The movies are pretty good, entertaining and keep my interest. I think Cage is pretty awesome in both (he's also awesome in Matchstick Men).

Seems like no one gets married in movies, so not too surprising.
I'm glad they didn't show a wedding though, that's one good thing about it, it'd seem out of place.

You know, I would quite like to see Ben, Abigail and Riley outfox NASA.

Yea. That would be sweet.

Seems like no one gets married in movies, so not too surprising.
I'm glad they didn't show a wedding though, that's one good thing about it, it'd seem out of place.

yeah but they made it look like they were already married at the end of the first one.

they wouldn't have to show it I suppose. But it must happen .

2)They're really "American". And I'm Canadian, so I'm not going to be able to be all patriotic about America, since obviously I can't relate as I don't live there.

Heh, same here! (I'm glad someone else brought it up, it's nice to know I'm not alone in feeling that particular way about that particular subject. ) In addition to being Canadian, I'm on the strongly on the British side of things during the Revolutionary War, so I didn't exactly like any of the "British Bad Guy" stuff, be it parts that were related to the war itself or the Ian bit. Although Ian was great- I liked him whereas I didn't like Ben.

As to the movies, I've only seen the first one. It's alright, but I have some problems with it. It's not just the Ben/Abigail thing (as I've only seen the first one) but there was some other things I didn't like about it- and these are more than just subjective things like who's side you're on in the Revolutionary War. Anyway. Just my two cents.

I can't decide on my favorite part in NT1, but my favorite part in NT2 is when Ben and Abigail make a scene at Buckingham Palace, it's just too funny!

~Jill~

Edit: Does anyone know that there's a book based on NT2? The title of the book is National Treasure and it's written be Anne Lloyd. I'm not sure if you spell her name 'Anne' or 'Ann'.

I love these movies! I love the way Ben just says things so matter-of-factly like "I'm gonna steal the Declaration of Independence." or "I'm gonna kidnap the president of the United States."

I think stealing the Declaration and kidnapping the President are both pretty hard to beat especially, as with the Declaration, the way they get to it is just as exciting.

Here's the probable plotline for National Treasure 3 (which I am highly anticipating):

In it the Gates family goes to Easter Island to hunt for Atlantis and the perfect, clean, power source which was supposed to have powered the legendary sunken city. Their goal is to use it to end global warming, [cinemablend]

Sounds ... interesting!

Sooo..... what are your thoughts on this?

Thanks Swan! I had no idea what the plotline was for NT3!

~Jill~

In it the Gates family goes to Easter Island to hunt for Atlantis and the perfect, clean, power source which was supposed to have powered the legendary sunken city. Their goal is to use it to end global warming, [cinemablend]Sooo..... what are your thoughts on this?

Sounds really cool!

In it the Gates family goes to Easter Island to hunt for Atlantis and the perfect, clean, power source which was supposed to have powered the legendary sunken city. Their goal is to use it to end global warming, [cinemablend]
Sooo..... what are your thoughts on this?

Where did you get that idea? It sounds cool, but also just completely random.

It's from this website called cinemablend, which I did mention in my post. I agree it does sound random though also cool. I'm not too keen on the global warming idea as well. But as long as it has a good treasure hunt I'll be good.

The other thing is it's called 'National' Treasure so it'll probably have a bit of the searching done in America as Easter Island wouldn't make it a 'national' treasure.