Reviews

140 Character Movie Review – #140RVW

Completely ridiculous but fun anyway. Wonder how much better it would have been with actual actors. Sean Bean must have felt very lonely…

Spoiler-free Movie Review of National Treasure:

(#140RVW published 6/30/2013; full review published July 4, 2014)

This film had a number of things going against it when it was announced: neither Jerry Bruckheimer nor Walt Disney Pictures are known for subtlety, Nicolas Cage, Tomb Raider-feel, Nicolas Cage…

In a way, I think this movie probably got a bump for the same reason that Independence Day did;  sure, it might be warmed over Indiana Jones, but they’re not making any more of those. (And just as in the case of Star Wars surrogate Independence Day, we would soon be proven wrong…)

The premise is a good one. That is, it’s a good conceit for a movie; as an actual idea it’s patently absurd. But it has elements to make for a franchise: a wealth of history that can be borrowed and mined for stories, details & settings. I’m stunned that they’ve only made one sequel so far. (Although I understand they’re working on another.)

Benjamin Gates (Nicolas Cage) is a history buff and one might say professional descendant, coming from a long line of treasure hunters. The family possesses a written clue given to one of the Gates’s by the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence in 1832. This clue will supposedly lead to the world’s largest and greatest treasure, the product of centuries of collections of the world’s great artifacts. The treasure has passed through many hands through the years before stopping in the New World (the United States) and being hidden by the country’s founding fathers. But Ben is getting further in the quest to find the treasure than any of his forbears, and with the help of fellow treasure hunter Ian Howe (Sean Bean), computer whiz kid Riley Poole (Justin Bartha) and National Archivist Dr. Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger) he may be able to validate his family’s long quest.

The plot is super silly, but you can see the appeal. You can essentially go anywhere with this story, and you’ll never run out of historical narrative to borrow from. It’s really ingenious.

As a film, it works pretty well, certainly better than I expected. It might have been an idea to cast better actors and tone down the over-the-top approach, but it works great as an afternoon movie on cable, which is surely how most people watch it. It’s a fun adventure with lots of humor – a good deal provided by Bartha’s character Riley, who’s a lot of fun.

National Treasure is everything you could want in mindless summer fun. It’s engaging and breezy, with lots of practical effects that don’t date the movie at all. It was made 10 years ago, but honestly could have come out 20 years ago or 10 years from now and be pretty much the same picture. Such is the appeal of basing your film on history…

Poster:

Trailer:

Bechdel Test:

Fail

The Representation Test Score: C (5 pts)

(http://therepresentationproject.org/grading-hollywood-the-representation-test/)

[schema type=”movie” name=”National Treasure” description=”A historian races to find the legendary Templar Treasure before a team of mercenaries.” director=”Jon Turteltaub” actor_1=”Nicolas Cage” actor_2=”Diane Kruger” actor_3=”Justin Bartha” actor_4=”Sean Bean” actor_5=”Jon Voight”]

Main Cast	Nicolas Cage Benjamin Franklin Gates, Diane Kruger Abigail Chase, Justin Bartha Riley Poole, Sean Bean Ian Howe
Rating	PG
Release Date	Fri 19 Nov 2004 UTC
Director	Jon Turteltaub
Genres	Action, Adventure, Mystery, Thriller
Plot	A historian races to find the legendary Templar Treasure before a team of mercenaries.
Poster
Runtime	131
Tagline	The greatest adventure history has ever revealed.
Writers	Jim Kouf (screenplay) and, Cormac Wibberley (screenplay) …
Year	2004