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National Treasure
Review by Shawn Koonin
shawnkoonin@thecinemasource.com
I waited over a day to write the review for the latest Jerry Bruckheimer/Nicholas
Cage blockbuster, National Treasure. It took me that long for my brain to stop
spinning and begin to comprehend what I had experienced. The film went through so many turns and
locations, and explosions, that I am still reeling from the ride it took me on. Let me try to explain.
Part Indiana Jones and part James
Bond, Ben Gates (Cage) is an ostracized academic/historian whose family has
been on the quest for the largest and oldest treasure in all of human history. I can explain the history, but it’s
really as pointless as the rest of the film.
Gates and his partner Ian Howe (played menacingly well by Sean Bean), begin by discovering the
first clue to the hunt: a two hundred
year old ship buried under a few feet of ice in the Arctic.
Ignoring the complete lack of two
hundred years of snowfall, the pair, along with Gates’ sidekick, Riley Poole
(Justin Bartha) board the vessel and discover what begins the nationwide treasure
hunt. They are double-crossed by Ian and,
after the ship explodes, the race for the treasure is on.
Not only is this film’s plot overly complex, its complete lack of
reality takes away from any kind of enjoyment.
The film seems confused. It has
so many characters and fails to develop them.
It runs through so many locations that you fail to understand the
significance of each. The entire concept
of the treasure in the first place makes no sense. Why would a group of intelligent men, such as
our founding fathers, conspire to keep what is the most important cache of
world history ever? What is the point of
building such an elaborate scheme to disclose it (to the point of a deep
underground shaft in New York City)? I don’t get it.
Add in to all of this a third party, lead by Agent Sadusky (a lack luster Harvey Keitel), who is chasing after
both groups in order to regain the stolen Declaration of Independence (which
has a treasure map on the back of it).
Now, there are two antagonists, three protagonists (the third is Dr. Abigail
Chase (Diane Kruger)) all chasing
after each other. There are numerous
backstabs and double-crosses and it all just seems exhausting. This is enhanced by the film’s
breakneck pacing, which doesn’t allow you to breathe
throughout. There isn’t even time
for the classic kiss between Chase and Gates.
He steals a kiss from her, completely out of nowhere, as they are
walking through a dank tunnel as hostages.
Oh, did I forget to mention that they bring Gates’ father (played
by a surly Jon Voight) into all of
this? Hold on a second as my eyes stop
spinning.
Looking back on the films that the Bruckheimer/Cage team has produced, National
Treasure fits right in. It is a
film ...
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