National Treasure

I went into this film with no expectations. I went for fun and I had so much of it. Despite some improbability and story arch imperfections, “National Treasure” has fun characters, an adventurous story and an artistic design. I like to watch it around July 4^th so as to get in the spirit of the holiday. Being a Canadian, I enjoy Independence Day because it gives me time to study history and watch movies associated with the holiday. This film takes us to Washington D.C., Philadelphia and New York and incorporates American history. Because of the use of location and history, I find it fitting to watch “National Treasure” every year around that time.

Because of the history that is incorporated into this movie, you have a lot of brown and yellow colour as if the script itself was written on old paper. This is apparent in the climax under Trinity Church. This is noticeable because we also have a lot of modern colours to contrasts the older colours. Story wise, this movie wasn’t perfect. The most exciting part of the film is the stealing of the Declaration of Independence instead of the scenes beneath Trinity Church. Because the best part of the movie is towards the start of the film, the climax suffers. The audience comes away feeling good about the movie but not as good as they could have felt. There are also impossibilities such as Ben being able to clearly read the riddle despite the visibility of the letters being so poor. Having indicated the negative criticism, the story was mostly well written. There is comedy, entertaining exposition and adventure. The opening monologue is one the best I have seen because of Christopher Plummer and the images you see during his narration. This treasure of treasures spellbinds the audience. The scenes on the Charlotte set the pace of the film and establish Ben and Riley’s goal of stopping Ian in an adventurous manner. The digital editing during the exposition in the Library of Congress is pleasurable. As in all heist movies; there must be a scene that explains what the characters are up against and how they will overcome those obstacles. This movie portrays that crucial moment of storytelling very well. With every discovered clue, we as the audience celebrate with the characters. We feel impressed & awed because of the use of music and acting. There are setbacks and unexpected obstacles, which are necessary for this kind of story, and they are well thought up. Ben and his friends not only have to deal with Ian on their tail but also the police. I love scenes in movies where it looks like things couldn’t get any worse like the final moment of “Back to the Future: Part II”. In this movie, Ian gets the declaration and Ben is arrested. Riley and Abigail are shown in a park as if there is no hope. I also like how Ben is being chased by a group of guys that he used to work with and that he knows by name. It creates some drama. The climax is created well to raise the audiences hopes and then disappoint them over & over. A dead end is overcome only to lead to another empty treasure room. For a moment, I felt convinced that the treasure would not be found. When it is found, the vastness of the find is gradually revealed in an effective manner. We once again celebrate with our heroes emotionally. With this being a family adventure movie, we have little violence in that only Shaw is killed and by accident. It goes to show that carnage is not needed for an audience to be entertained. I like little humorous touches in the film such as the fact that Ian and his men are staying in the Watergate. As with any movie in this genre, you need laughs and it is the characters/cast that supply this.

Nicolas Cage leads good cast members in making us laugh but also feel. His character’s honorable desire to find the treasure is well portrayed on screen by Cage. I like Sean Bean as the villain as well as the performances of Harvey Keitel and Jon Voight. This film introduced me to Justin Bartha and his comedy is perfect as Riley Pool. His character represents the audience in that during most of the movie, he is the one who is confused and has to ask questions. He reacts how we react and says what we are thinking such as when Ben breaks the pipe and cuts his thumb. He is also the worrywart and the pessimist. His expertise though makes him very appealing and he & Ben together are the source of the heart of this film. As previously mentioned, Christopher Plummer opens the film with such wonder and awe. His absence throughout the rest of the movie only makes his contribution to the film more powerful. He represents how old this story goes back and how important the treasure is.

This movie is like a combination between “Indiana Jones” and “The Da Vinci Code”. The American History angle is very engaging for me. We have imperfections in “National Treasure” but I can overlook them because of the cast, characters and good parts of the story. I like other movies that Jon Turteltaub has directed like “3 Ninjas” but more especially “Cool Runnings”. This movie is a new genre for him but he did a good job. Jerry Bruckheimer made good choices as the producer but unfortunately ever since this film, he has yet to impress me with anything original. Hopefully if there are any more sequels to this movie, they will be better than the second film, which was only okay. I would love another great movie with Ben and Riley.

4 Stars