National Treasure: Edge of History Premiere Early Review

Whilst The National Treasure movies aren’t exactly perfect, both films undeniably brought a fun and frenetic energy that made audiences fall in love with them. When a new spinoff series was first announced, fans were hopeful that National Treasure: Edge of History could perhaps recapture that magic, with a brand new cast and story. Unfortunately, there is certainly nothing magical about what basically amounts to a lackluster and lazy not to mention boring series.

Edge of History follows a young woman named Jess Valenzuela (Lisette Olivera) who after discovering clues leading to a mysterious treasure in an old storage unit, embarks on a cross country adventure to find this treasure and learn more about her family. All while being pursued by a deadly millionaire named Billie Pearce (Catherine Zeta Jones). Starting off strong with a strong introduction and a brilliant appearance from returning film franchise character Peter Sedusky (Harvey Keitel), the series quickly falls flat from there as it throws viewers into an escape room with our new cast of characters. On paper, this scene is fairly interesting but in reality, it never quite comes together narratively and technically. From there, the series truly crashes and burns.

The biggest drawback of National Treasure: Edge of History is that it feels very much like a teen drama. That being said, to some, it be a criticism but for those looking for an experience closer to that of the previous two films, this series is definitely not that. More often than not, the writing and dialogue is so infuriatingly simple as the characters constantly spew out unnecessary dialogue and exposition. Similarly, this series lacks a lot of the wit that made the films so entertaining which was not only because of the writing but also the performances. In the end, the series’ lack of nuance and painfully dumb dialogue prevents it from being anything but lackluster. The overall mystery and its predictable reveals will leave audiences uninterested and highly unsatisfied as a whole in spite of the series trying so hard to sell it.

The music from Trevor Rabin, the composer from the previous two films, is exhilarating and brings some much-needed life into the series. However, the licensed music for which the series uses a lot of is irritating thus essentially drowning out Rabin’s great score. Another highlight of Edge of History was its case who were thankfully delightful and charming despite the sizable hole created by the lack of Nicholas Cage. To her credit, Olivera was a great lead while the supporting cast was also fun to watch for the most part. Jones, meanwhile, gives a intimidating performance as Pearce albeit as an annoying villain stereotype. It was great seeing Keitel once again, even though his appearance was a short one. An overall highlight of the series thus far, it is also cause for hope that other characters from the film can make an appearance.

At the end of the day, National Treasure: Edge of History is a mess that delivers run-of-the-mill teen drama boasting predictable plot beats and irritatingly dumb dialogue along with an odd obsession with licensed music. Despite the second episode slightly edging out the first, the series thus far ultimately fails to recapture the energy and magic of the preceding films which is simply a disappointment.

*still courtesy of Disney*

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Olly Dyche

Journalist, Writer, Film Critic and Professional Nerd. You will probably find Olly at the cinema chomping down on some popcorn and taking in the glorious visuals of the latest theatrical release.