National Treasure (Widescreen Edition)

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
Ever since benjamin franklin gates was a boy he has been obsessed with finding the legendary knights templar treasure the greatest treasure known to man. Now in a race against time gates must steal one of americas most sacred & guarded documents - the declaration of independence. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 09/01/2006 Starring: Nicolas Cage Sean Bean Run time: 131 minutes Rating: Pg

Amazon.com
Like a Hardy Boys mystery on steroids, National Treasure offers popcorn thrills and enough boyish charm to overcome its rampant silliness. Although it was roundly criticized as a poor man's rip-off of Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Da Vinci Code, it's entertaining on its own ludicrous terms, and Nicolas Cage proves once again that one actor's infectious enthusiasm can compensate for a multitude of movie sins. The contrived plot involves Cage's present-day quest for the ancient treasure of the Knights Templar, kept secret through the ages by Freemasons past and present. Finding the treasure requires the theft of the Declaration of Independence (there are crucial treasure clues on the back, of course!), so you can add "caper comedy" to this Jerry Bruckheimer production's multi-genre appeal. Nobody will ever accuse director Jon Turtletaub of artistic ambition, but you've got to admit he serves up an enjoyable dose of PG-rated entertainment, full of musty clues, skeletons, deep tunnels, and harmless adventure in the old-school tradition. It's a load of hokum, but it's fun hokum, and that makes all the difference. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews: Read 572 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Ignore the critics, enjoy the ride November 21, 2004
405 out of 437 found this review helpful

I'm surprised that this movie has attracted so much scorn. Is it silly and far-fetched? Well, duh, anyone could figure that out who's seen only half a trailer! So, if we accept that going in, the only remaining question is does it deliver sufficient entertainment value?

I vote yes.

The far-fetched plot owes a large debt to "The DaVinci Code", which itself owes a large debt to a time-honored history of conspiracy theories. Long before "The DaVinci Code" was published, I'd heard all sorts of whispered tales about the Knights Templar and the Freemasons - usually involving the Holy Grail, though.

But none of that matters. This is a yarn, pure and simple. As such, it's well told with a good mix of likable and villainous characters, plus at least one you're not too sure about. Should you expect a tall tale to stand up under intense scrutiny? Not bloody likely! To keep you from thinking about the incongruities, it has lots of well-paced action.

This is also a family film. I saw it with 8 other family members ranging from preteen school kids to their grandpa (me). Everyone had a good time and everyone figured we got our money's worth.

5 out of 5 stars

In Our Day and Age... ****1/2 April 28, 2005
145 out of 171 found this review helpful

National Treasure is proof of what us "common" listeners, movie goers, readers and observers have suspected for a long time; That critics are usually wrong/stupid. This movie got bad reviews. Not even bad - abysmal reviews. And do you wanna know why? After everything is said and done, it's because there's no sex, no foul language, and it's entertaining instead of disturbing. Well we can leave them to the business of deciding what our likes and values "should" be, and we they can pontificate why movies they view with disdain end up as year-end blockbusters. With that being said, I feel I should come from a different angle. This movie is also NOT an anti-Christianity film (and I find it interesting that people would equate it as such, seeing as there are so many other mediums that are). The plain and simple facts: pretty much everyone involved in shaping this country: from establishing it, to breaking from England, from the signing of the Declaration of Independence, to the men we've elected as Presidents have been Christians. ALSO, more than half the men that signed the Declaration were Masons. Simple facts. George Washington was a Mason. Ben Franklin was a master mason. Lodges were established pretty much everywhere across the East Coast. There's no way to dispute these things because they happened. Coming to the conclusion that masonry is anti-Christian just shows a lack of knowledge on the subject (especially since most masons are Christian to begin with). This is a completely different topic (something that I wouldn't mind discussing with anyone via e-mail), so onto the movie.

It's well written, interesting, with a cliff-hanger look into history that more than acknowledges Dan Brown. (By the way, Dan Brown's new book is on the same subject as this movie. I'm not sure which is interdependent.) It's well produced, well casted, with very few lagging moments. The story is great and the American historical sights are filmed very well, showing masonic influence in virtually everything our Founding Fathers did. I really don't see how this can be construed as negative. Perhaps critics don't like Disney.

Seeing an early edition DVD of this movie, I can say that the special features are certainly lacking. Putting any type of "history channel" type documentary of the evolution of templars-to-masons would have been nice. Even masonry in American history would have been good. Basically, there's a 5 minute mini-history that covers the same ground as the movie or is common knowledge. Perhaps the "special edition" will have more. The lacking special features pales to the greatness of the movie. One of the best!

Overall: 9 out of 10.

4 out of 5 stars

Great adventure film appropriate for youngsters May 2, 2005
26 out of 29 found this review helpful

It seems that just about every movie out there in modern times involves skimpy outfits, swearing, or other adult themes. National Treasure is one of those rare films that is fun for the kids, while offering at least a reasonable amount of intrigue for adults as well.

First, yes, let's get out of the way that the plot and characters are rather one-dimensional and only lightly sketched. Ben wants the treasure - but we never really get a sense of why he's seeking it. Perhaps he wants to find it (as he claims when seeking to avoid prison) to 'give it back to the people'. He's joined by a cute female researcher and a cyber-guy. The trio is up against Sean Bean, who wants the treasure for (gasp) monetary gain.

The main appeal of the movie is that the sanitized adventure takes place in locations that you could visit with your family - Washington DC, Philadelphia, New York. The characters move from location to location, deciphering clues and getting hints of masonic involvement. There are creaky underground caverns, guttering torches, and of course, vast treasures. It helps kids to get interested in history, which is a lovely thing.

There is "sweet" love between the main characters - one mild kiss is the extent of their affection. There is the child-reedeeming-his-father's-love going on. Without giving much away, good triumphs and evil is vanquished.

I really wish they could have done a bit better job on the coherency of the movie, though. Sure, having it so sweet-and-simple was lovely for the kids. However, they could have had a bit more logic in some scenes. They know that one clue is "beneath" a two-word name ... but when they find a plaque with those two words on it, they immediately smash it. When they find that person's body, they immediately cause destruction to the scene, so they can't search it. There's a sundial-type puzzle in one sequence, and they obviously need to know the time of day for the sundial. The puzzle is in three dimensions - they need to know exactly where the sundial points. However, they don't even think at all about what day of the year it should refer to - they simply assume one day is the same as any other.

They use ropes that are over 200 years old, which somehow haven't been gnawed by rats or crisped over time. And, in a scene of ultimate horror for me, they find a room full of ancient documents - and they LIGHT A MASSIVE FIRE. Not only would this have crisped the important papers, but this was in an underground chamber - the smoke and lack of oxygen would have slain them all.

I'm not trying to nit-pick here - there were trillions of little errors if we wanted to get into those. These were the huge, glaring "No Way!" moments that caused huge problems with simply following and enjoying the movie. It would have been so easy for the writers to handle these points properly - to keep it 'sweet' for the kids and 'fun' for the adults. So I find it a shame that they couldn't do that properly.

For the DVD, there were a number of special features provided. They definitely aimed this squarely at kids. There are a tiny amount of deleted scenes and alternate ending options. The main group of special features are 'learn about codes' types of exercises. They take quite a while to work your way through - not because they are hard, but because they are really tedious. You have to solve a number of symbol-matching puzzles. You have to go letter, by letter, using your remote control to find the matches. In one puzzle, even though there are multiple copies of a given symbol on the screen, you have to go back and re-select it each time. That's just silly.

But still, it is meant for kids, and the kids might enjoy doing it step ... by step ... by step ... to get all the secret codes to unlock the super-secret features. There is a tiny amount of information about the Masons, and how the purge of the Templars over 700 years ago still affects us in our fear of Friday the 13th. I would have enjoyed even more "real" information about the Great Seal on dollar bills and so on. There are many topics touched on by the movie which are just let go. Maybe the hope is that people will use the internet to keep figuring out secrets, long after they finish with the movie.

So in summary, if you have kids in the house, then National Treasure is a great, safe movie to watch together that is a fun story that has a nice moral ending. If you're an adult, I might rent it - but there are many other books out there that cover this topic area (masonic secrets, history of 1776 situation, Templars, etc.) with much more interesting detail. The reality of what went on is even more fascinating than anything Hollywood could invent!

4 out of 5 stars

Great popcorn flick November 20, 2004
19 out of 22 found this review helpful

You've got Jerry Bruckheimer producing and Nic Cage starring; do the math. This is a very entertaining popcorn flick with a fascinating premise, well-executed, and satisfyingly resolved. The acting is way above average, the suspense is palpable, and the scenarios are...well, OK, mostly implausible. But, if you can suspend your belief for a couple of hours and ignore some rather large plot holes, you will enjoy the film. The story moves at a brisk pace, from a young man's family legacy to the Arctic Circle to Washington, DC, to New York, and to Boston and beyond, the plot follows a mysterious trail to a spectacular treasure. By the end, everyone has realized that some things in life matter far more than money. This is a very "clean" family film, with no bad language and a minimum of violence (and no blood). There is a fair amount of droll humor, and Jon Voigt adds emotional heft to the film as Cage's dad. All in all, this movie looks like it will be a smash. It positively screams "summer movie" which makes it a little surprising at this time of year (late Novemember). But, it should find a healthy niche and make loads of money during this season. It probably won't win many awards, but it's a fun flick all the same.

4 out of 5 stars

we take VISA March 17, 2008
19 out of 19 found this review helpful

National Treasure DVD

National Treasure reminds me of a scavenger hunt with guns. It kind of has the flavor of an Indiana Jones movie, just with Nicolas Gage instead of Harrison Ford. Now that there's two of them out see National Treasure 2 - Book of Secrets (Two-Disc Collector's Edition) I guess it'll be like Indiana Jones, they'll keep making them as long as they sell.

Anyhow Nicolas Gage plays a modern day treasure hunter who runs from clue to clue, closely followed by a rival for the treasure. This is a "Jerry Bruckheimer" production, so I wonder if it'll be coming to TV soon.

Recommended for fans of Nicolas Gage Indiana Jones movies and scavenger hunts.

Gunner March, 2008

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