Movie Review: National Treasure
The Good: Solid acting, entertaining film. Good chemistry between the stars.
The Bad: Some rather large plot holes, and an anti-climactic ending.
National Treasure is fun, if a trifle ridiculous. The basic plot (revealed in the film's opening scenes) is that the stupendous treasure of the Knights Templar has been hidden away by the Founding Fathers with clues located in historical sites and on the back of the Declaration of Independence.
Nicholas Cage plays Benjamin Franklin Gates, apparently the seventh generation Gates to search for the treasure. He is assisted by his buddy Riley (Justin Bartha) and the Director of the National Archives, Dr. Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger) as they race against bad guy Ian Howe (Sean Bean).
Gates and Howe originally team up to search for the treasure, but their partnership is terminated when the former refuses to go along with a plan to steal the Declaration of Independence. After fruitlessly trying to warn authorities (including the gorgeous Dr Chase) about the impending heist, Gates decides that the only way to save the precious document is to steal it himself. From there, the treasure hunt is on.
The chemistry between the stars is excellent, although Harvey Keitel is largely wasted as an FBI agent chasing Gates, and Jon Voight phones in his 100th performance in a row as Gates' father. There is some excellent cinematography throughout and lots of wonderful historic locations.
There are also lots of plot holes. At one point the characters need to look where the shadow of Independence Hall falls "at 2:22 PM", with no apparent recognition that the shadow would fall in different places at different times of the year. Despite its apparent fragility, the Declaration ends up getting rolled up and unrolled many times during the course of the movie.
