For
generations, the Gates family has passed along a
legend concerning buried treasure, a secret society, and
treasure protected by a group of Freemasons in the
nation's history. Ben Gates
(Nicholas Cage) is the first one to take his
grandfather's story seriously. He's spent his entire
life searching for the treasure believed to be
linked to the founding fathers. His
grandfather (Christopher Plummer) used to tell him
stories about a series of complex clues that would lead adventurers
such as himself to riches beyond reward. Only one true
clue
is known: Charlotte. For ages it's was speculated to
be a woman's name, but Ben's search leads him to the HMS
Charlotte, a 17th Century vessel locked in the ice
above the pole.
With
his trusty, computer-savvy, wisecracking sidekick
Riley Poole (Justin Bartha) and a team including billionaire
explorer Ian Howe (Sean Bean) Ben unearths another
clue in the series of hints to lead them to the
treasure. This piece of history reveals a dreaded
truth: that the key to the secret lies embedded on the
back of the Declaration of Independence. Ian has
different views of destroying national property than
Ben does. Nothing will stand in his way of unearthing
the treasure's place of concealment.
Knowing Ian will attempt to steal the document, Ben
first goes to the office of homeland security, then the
FBI, and as a last resort to government official
Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger). No one takes him seriously. It becomes a race against time and
advantage to steal the document before Ian does for
the Declaration's own safekeeping, but in the process
Ben runs into more than he bargained for. Abigail is
inadvertently dragged along, the clues don't seem to
add up, and the FBI is now hot on his trail.
He'd
better hope and pray his grandpa wasn't wrong, because
if he makes one misjudgment, it could cost him
everything. The basic premise of this film may be
simple but it works. The action takes awhile to get
started but then explodes like a flame to a keg of dynamite.
Historical ties and clues keep you guessing and
attempting to figure it out one step ahead of the
intrepid sleuths while constantly keeping an eye on
their fierce and deadly competition. The script is
tight and cunning; it does such a wonderful job
weaving fact and fiction that you'd be hard pressed to
disprove any of its theories. It also contains minimal
content issues and enough intelligence to keep older
audiences riveted, quiet a remarkable feat when you
consider that this film is smarter than many of its
R-rated counterparts.
At
first the action does lag just a little bit and
Nicholas Cage seems badly out of place, but when the
plot moves beyond the artic circle to the modern world
he snaps into the role like a glove. He has some nice
players to work with. Kruger is effective as a strong
willed heroine and always lovely to look at, while
Bartha gets most of the film's big laughs as the
intellectual comic relief. If there's anything the
movie suffers from it's a slightly predictable ending. I also enjoyed perusing
Washington from a different perspective. Landmarks
I've been to and observed through the glass become
even more enthralling when viewed through the eyes of
an elusive camera. It's a very well done production
and if it weren't for the presence of Freemasons,
would receive my highest recommendation. Historically a number of the founding
fathers of our country were involved in the group,
which was at that time fairly innocent and based in
honor and virtue. It was basically a knighthood
extension left over from the middle ages.
Over the years freemasonry was
corrupted and out of it came Mormonism, along with
other chauvinist forms of male domination. The
film does romanticize it to a certain degree by implying that
several main characters are part of the group. Whether
or not it's a subtle nod of approval from the
filmmakers or merely serves a purpose in the plot,
modern audiences should be aware of the deeper issues
at stake with true Freemasonry, which is not a neat
boy's only club but a cult in which group rules are
higher than those of government. I mention this only
because it was brought up by concerned viewers, not
because it made any particular statement to me as a
reviewer. Personally I know the historical basis for
that aspect of the plot and don't find it overly
troublesome. In areas of content, the film is as clean
as they come. Sexual content is nonexistent, there's
only one British profanity ("bloody"), and a
handful of minor abuses of deity, and the violence is
never graphic. Security guards are stun-gunned, main
characters are placed in peril, a woman is nearly hit
by a truck, and a bad guy falls to his death from a
great height. There are also a few skeletons unearthed
in church crypts. It's nothing we haven't seen before and
shouldn't keep away viewers over the age of ten.
Despite the complaints of secular critics, National
Treasure is one of the coolest movies of the year.
NATIONAL
TREASURE
He'd
better hope and pray his grandpa wasn't wrong, because
if he makes one misjudgment, it could cost him
everything. The basic premise of this film may be
simple but it works. The action takes awhile to get
started but then explodes like a flame to a keg of dynamite.
Historical ties and clues keep you guessing and
attempting to figure it out one step ahead of the
intrepid sleuths while constantly keeping an eye on
their fierce and deadly competition. The script is
tight and cunning; it does such a wonderful job
weaving fact and fiction that you'd be hard pressed to
disprove any of its theories. It also contains minimal
content issues and enough intelligence to keep older
audiences riveted, quiet a remarkable feat when you
consider that this film is smarter than many of its
R-rated counterparts.
Over the years freemasonry was
corrupted and out of it came Mormonism, along with
other chauvinist forms of male domination. The
film does romanticize it to a certain degree by implying that
several main characters are part of the group. Whether
or not it's a subtle nod of approval from the
filmmakers or merely serves a purpose in the plot,
modern audiences should be aware of the deeper issues
at stake with true Freemasonry, which is not a neat
boy's only club but a cult in which group rules are
higher than those of government. I mention this only
because it was brought up by concerned viewers, not
because it made any particular statement to me as a
reviewer. Personally I know the historical basis for
that aspect of the plot and don't find it overly
troublesome. In areas of content, the film is as clean
as they come. Sexual content is nonexistent, there's
only one British profanity ("bloody"), and a
handful of minor abuses of deity, and the violence is
never graphic. Security guards are stun-gunned, main
characters are placed in peril, a woman is nearly hit
by a truck, and a bad guy falls to his death from a
great height. There are also a few skeletons unearthed
in church crypts. It's nothing we haven't seen before and
shouldn't keep away viewers over the age of ten.
Despite the complaints of secular critics, National
Treasure is one of the coolest movies of the year.
