3/10
Another swing and a miss
15 December 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Like Willow, the creators of National Treasure don't understand the source material nor how to represent marginalized people without making them unrelatable and unlikeable because they do everything perfectly while everyone else is an incompetent dolt.

In the movies Ben is smart but it's his education, passion for history, and his initiative that allow him to solve puzzles, not some magic gift. He's also humble enough to enlist the help of others with their own particular skills and knowledge.

The movies were also a lot of fun, with even the baddies chewing the scenery to our delight while racing around discovering clues and methodically assembling them to solve the mystery. Here we get treasure hunter dad who automatically knows where the button is and can inexplicably fight goons and escape, only to endanger his wife and child who would have certainly been caught and made to pay for his betrayal. Then we have the gross FBI agents who made my skin crawl and weren't remotely believable. Maybe they turn out to be baddies posing as agents, but in that case their bizarre behavior should have tipped off the main character who can do no wrong.

These creators need to understand you represent people by showing their value as human beings, not by using them to score cheap points with the SJW crowd.
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