All his life, Benjamin Franklin Gates, a third generation treasure hunter, has been searching for a treasure no one believed existed: amassed through the ages, moved across continents, to become the greatest treasure the world has ever known. Hidden by the United States of America's Founding Fathers, they left clues to the treasure's location right before our eyes... from America's birthplace, to the nation's capitol, to clues buried within the symbols on the U.S. dollar bill. Gates' lifelong journey leads him to the last place anyone thought to look: a map hidden on the back of the Declaration of Independence. But what he thought was the final clue is only the beginning. Gates realizes in order to protect the world's greatest treasure, he must now do the unthinkable: steal the most revered, best guarded document in American history before it falls into the wrong hands. In a race against time, Gates must elude the authorities, stay one step ahead of his ruthless adversary, decipher the remaining clues and unlock the 2000-year-old mystery behind America's greatest national treasure.

This movie would have been so easy to hate, I mean the story while intriguing and fun is so preposterous that you almost want to laugh out loud when hearing it. It also has Jerry Bruckheimer at the helm and if anyone can make a movie that is either really good or really horrible it is him. I think Jerry has just decided that he cannot do anything but “popcorn flicks” and he is happy to churn them out at a regular rate. But the amazing thing is despite all this the film was fun, enjoyable and good. I mean it is no masterpiece by any means but it served its purpose for the most part and that is to be an enjoyable escape from reality for one hundred minutes. I mean that’s what popcorn flicks are they are escapist’s films of improbable plots filled with action, humor and an overall feel good theme.

Nicolas Cage is an incredible actor and he does no less in this film. I know for the most part he is squandering his great talent playing a part that a dozen actors could have pulled off but he just has a style, a level of cool that just fits these kinds of roles so well. There are definitely no best actor nominations in the bag for a film like this, but for the most part all the actors did a good job of drawing you in and enjoy an action packed thrill ride. If you are looking to just escape for an afternoon and have fun at the movies, this is a good movie to go see.
3.5 stars out of 5