Movie Review

National Treasure

For those who haven?t seen a good treasure hunt in a while, I present National Treasure, producer Jerry Bruckheimer?s cleverly plotted holiday offering. The movie is ingeniously written, and Bruckheimer seems more than willing to let everybody in on the adventure. This is the first one of his films in quite awhile to boast a PG rating, and for those Bruckheimer aficionados who think that means a much more toned down film, they couldn?t be more inaccurate. This movie also offers some of the most exciting action of the year.

Nicolas Cage stars as Benjamin Franklin Gates, and with a name like that you expect a historian. Mucn like many of the previous Gates down the family line he is also a treasure hunter, or as he calls it "treasure protectors", looking for artifacts that were buried by the free masons. The film begins in the Arctic Circle where Gates, his computer whiz Riley (Justin Bartha) and co-financier Ian (Sean Bean), have uncovered a ship that leads them one step closer to the treasure. The only problem is that it leads them to the next clue, which is hidden on the back of the declaration of independence. Gates is against stealing but Ian is not, and a divide occurs. Gates realizes that in order to protect the declaration from being destroyed by Ian, he and Riley must steal it first.

This isn?t the heist movie that the trailers have set up, however. In fact, the declaration is only one in a long chain of clues that have consumed the Gate?s men. It is only Ben?s father (Jon Voight) who condemns it all as foolishness. Ben is far more eager to prove this treasure does exist, and in order to do so he will have to follow the long string of clues that cover Washington to Boston to New Jersey to almost everywhere around the world. The entire film is a race against time as he and Riley must gather up these clues, solve their riddles, evade the FBI (led by Harvey Keitel), and also outwit Ian, whose hot on their trail.

Like all the best Bruckheimer films, National Treasure moves along at a really fast pace and the action is exhilarating. The heist is slick, and the constant battle to one-up the other guy offers us many intense chases where character?s end up hanging off the doors of trucks, jumping off buildings and piers, and finally going down a creaky and termite eaten wooden staircase that can collapse at any moment. This is all wrapped up in a plot that is surprisingly involving. It?s all based on clues that are set up as riddles, and every riddle is based on American history. The explanations may seem far-fetched, but you have to give this movie its props for being this inventive.

Nicholas Cage has finally found an action hero he can be believable in playing because essentially Gates is not an action hero at all, but rather a sensitive intellectual. Watching Cage decipher a code proves way more interesting than shooting a gun off. And Sean Bean matches him up perfectly, while Bartha also comes through rather well as the wise cracking computer geek. It?s my hope that he can put "Gigli" behind him for good.

National Treasure is a fun family adventure that doesn?t skip out on thrills or clever plot turns. The one criticism I have is that it runs a little bit too long, but otherwise, this movie works more than it doesn?t. The movie?s not exactly a treasure, but it is a nice holiday treat.

Craig's Grade: B+

A	10.9%
B	41.8%
C	31.8%
D	15.3%
F	0.3%