National Treasure/National Treasure - Book Of Secrets (Box Set)

American history gets a cool make-over in the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced comedic action thrillers NATIONAL TREASURE and its sequel NATIONAL TREASURE - BOOK OF SECRETS. Nicholas Cage plays Ben Gates, the descendant of an early American patriot who has left him information relating to a vast treasure, hidden during the Revolutionary War by the Freemasons. A clue at the north pole sets things in motion, and Ben must use his formidable cryptography skills to decipher puzzles hidden in the most unlikely places--one appears on the dollar bill, and another is on the back of the U.S. constitution. Ben's unscrupulous former partner (Sean Bean) and his gang of thugs are also after the treasure for selfish, evil purposes. A plot to steal the constitution sets off a 13-colony-wide chase with all the trimmings: cops going after the wrong man, the rescue of a cute female cryptographer (Diane Kruger) who tags along for the ride, and Jon Voight answering the door in the middle of the night as Ben's disapproving father.
In BOOK OF SECRETS Nicholas Cage and his team return and embark on a new adventure to solve a mystery that stretches from the assassination of Abraham Lincoln to the contemporary streets of Washington, DC. When Mitch Wilkinson (Ed Harris) produces a page from the diary of Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth allegedly linking Ben's great-great grandfather to the plot, Ben and his father, Patrick (Jon Voight), set out on a path to clear their family's name. Ben also believes that the diary page contains hints to the whereabouts of a treasure map leading to an ancient city made of gold, and soon the hunt is on. Tech expert Riley Poole (Justin Bartha) and Ben's now ex-girlfriend Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger) join the Gates in their quest, which takes them from Washington, DC, to Paris, London and the Black Hills of South Dakota.
High-speed editing and clever scripts make these films an enjoyable history lesson, with Cage's character masquerading as his own versions of Sherlock Holmes, Indiana Jones, and an over-caffeinated Washington D.C. tour guide. He and Kruger demonstrate some fine romantic chemistry, and Justin Bartha gets off some legitimately funny lines as Ben's long-suffering sidekick. Helen Mirren also fits the bill as Ben's mother and Patrick's estranged ex-wife, Emily, a scholar and historian in her own right.