It never approaches the sheer entertainment level of any of the Indiana Jones movies, but it makes for an agreeable — if watered-down — substitute.
Inspired by a story his grandfather told him, Benjamin Franklin Gates (Nicolas Cage) searches for a treasure hidden by the Knights Templar. Following a string of clues centered around the Declaration of Independence, Gates, along with his assistant, Riley (Justin Bartha) and National Archives curator Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger), attempt to outrun Gates’ former partner, Ian Howe (Sean Bean) to be the first to find the treasure. The first step is stealing the Declaration from its heavily guarded vault at the National Archives in Washington, DC.
National Treasure, a Disney PG-rated adventure romp, is a sort of sanitized version of Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code”. Both feature somewhat fictionalized versions of historical events to power their story-lines. Instead of puzzles with clues revolving around religion and iconography, National Treasure features puzzles with clues revolving around Freemasonry and the founding fathers of the United States. The protagonists use their encyclopedic knowledge to follow one clue to the next in an ever increasingly complex series of tasks. Similarities aside, as a movie, National Treasure is the more successful of the two.
One thing missing from National Treasure, though, is any real sense of danger. Where Indiana Jones faced machine-gun toting Nazis, Ben Gates never finds himself in a situation with any dire consequences. Even when bullets are flying, there’s no inclination to believe that anyone will be injured or even scratched. The entire adventure has a sort of carefree attitude that permeates through every scene.
Nicolas Cage fans will find him at his most family-friendly here. Ben Gates, despite the fact that he’s trying to steal the Declaration of Independence, is doing things for the right reasons. Sean Bean, despite being the movie’s villain, never comes across as particularly evil or menacing. He seems as much in awe of some of the artifacts as Ben does. None of the characters ever manage to evolve beyond mere sketched outlines of people, though.
Your enjoyment of National Treasure will likely depend on your tolerance for what amounts to a two-hour chase scene periodically interrupted for some expositional dialogue. It works best if you turn off your brain and just absorb it as mindless fun. It never approaches the sheer entertainment level of any of the Indiana Jones movies, but it makes for an agreeable — if watered-down — substitute.
3.0 out of 5.0 stars
