Pros: Great action scenes, and of course a national treasure.
Cons: Weak, that's all I can say about it. Especially the female.
The Bottom Line: At least the Founding Fathers didn't see this poor excuse for a treasure-hunting flick. And a German woman as a curator in the National Archives? (I thumb my nose).
The whole plot of National Treasure revolves around a mystrerious treasure hidden away by the Masonic Society, a notoriously secret society with a long history in the US. George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Hancock (who wrote the large in-your-face signature on the Declaration on Independence) were Freemasons of course. There were rumors that they hoarded lots of different treasures, but even today that's unsubstantiated.
Nick Cage is Benjamin Franklin Gates (the first name of the famous man with the spectacle and the last name of a Revolutionary War general), whose Masonic dynasty holds the key to a mysterious treasure. Ben's grandfather told him stories of how the pyramid with the eye became a fixture on the US $1 bill. He spoke of a series of events of how a mysterious Egyptian treasure got stolen by Roman invaders, then ended up in the hands of the medieval Knights Templar. And so on and so forth.
Cut to a scene near the Arctic Circle where Ben Gates's expedition (he's full grown now) locates a hidden ship with the word Charlotte engraved on it. my memory of that scene is foggy, but if I remember correctly, they find a clue suggesting that the key to the treasure is on the Declaration of Independence. Of course there was a series of explosions (of mysterious origin) that force the team to rush out of the chamber. They all escape just in time, but the ship that held the clue is destroyed.
Ben and all his associates fight amongst themselves and break up after the episode, and one of them, Briton Ian Howe (who shares the same last name as one of the British generals who fought Washington in the Revoutionary war), now wants the treasure for himself, and gathers a group of Loyalists to help him get it. Which leads to the still-prevalent cliche of the evil Brit and his eeeeevvvvviiiillll minions. Surprise surprise.
Meanwhile, Ben and his one remaining loyalist decide to go after the Declaration of Independence, He meets with Ms Abigail Chase (a 'Hessian' woman named Diane Kruger), one of the main curators at the National Archives in Washington DC, where the Declaration is located. From her Ben gleams info about the Declaration and the security surrounding it, including a complicated computer code. While I'm not an expert on museum security, the huge mass of computers and gadgets that the two of them share to break that code is incomprehensible.
For a while that's where Gates's interest in Ms.Chase ends. After all, Mr Gates (the all-American) is too focused on retreiving the treasure to care much about the woman's cleavage- which is fine with me since the girl isn't that attractive to begin with. And it's unlikely that the main Archives curator would be a 29-year-old woman with limited experience.
She too, becomes Ben's loyalist after an insane car chase between Gates and Howe with trucks and vans speeding with open doors, with the damsel in distress holding on to dear life to one of the swinging truck doors. In real life the poor woman would probably lose her hold, hit the road hard and/or get struck by other cars, and likely end up on an ... it's too graphic to mention it further. after all the movie's rated PG.
Anyhway she's ultimately rescued from Howe and his redcoats (to say nothing of that shower scene that comes right afterward), and from there the two of them engage in deciphering the Declaration. I still don't understand whether they use cotton swabs, eggs, or other liquids open up the secret code, but there you have it.
Then comes the scene in Philly where Ian Howe and his associates meet with Mr Gates in the vicinity of Independence Hall. Then comes a chase scene where Howe and his minions shoot after Gates in an all-too-long foot chase (where were the street cops?), and the end result is too embarassing to give away. I almost forgot to note that Gates's father has been abducted and is now held for ransom.
All roads lead to Trinity Church in Lower Manhattan, where Gates reluctantly meets with Howe to look for the treasure. The church, must be noted, often had Washington, Jefferson, and of course Ben Franklin (yes the old man with the spectacles) as its sermon attendees. They were all members of the Freemasons, and often held group meetings in that church until the city was taken over by the Redcoats in 1778; the British retained control of the city until 1783. If they actually missed the treasure right underneath the church all this time, I'm not sure whether they were competent.
No I didn't forget about the FBI agents on his case. When they seize Mr Gates and interrogate him about his hunt for the treasure... I can't take it anymore. This review is getting a little too boring for me, so I'm effectively ending it.
One more fun fact before I split: Diane Kruger, who played the Archive curatoe Abigail Chase, is from Deutschland, and has traces of that 'Hessian' accent to match which can be heard in this flick; her acting is mediocre at best, which doesn't help. A better choice would have been Cameron Diaz or Uma Thurman, but I guess the casting directors weren't so patriotic as they portrayed themselves, were they.
Nick Cage (American)- Benjamin Franklin Gates
Diane Kruger (German)- Abigail Chase
Sean Bean (British)- Ian Howe
Justin Bartha (American)- the comic relief
Jon Voight (American)- Patrick Gates
Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer
Directed by Jon TurtleTaub
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