Movie Review: National Treasure (3 of 5)

I found National Treasure to be a typical average action-type movie. The music was very good. The plot-line was at least intriguing. The special effects were awesome. And there are lots of funny moments. Nothing extraordinary or spectacular---just a good ol' average movie.

Nicholas Cage stars as a guy named Ben Gates, whose family has for generations believed that the founding fathers (i.e. Washington, Franklin, etc) left us clues to find a huge buried treasure, consisting of valuable items dating back to Roman times and all that good stuff. A guy looking for treasure---not exactly a plot-line that's never been done before, and it's a little far-fetched. But it is pretty neat how they go from one clue to the next, and how they deduce and infer and figure out and solve things.

Of course, it's not as simple as that. Half of Ben's crew turns on him early on, led by Ian something (Sean Bean). They continually try to thwart the efforts of Ben, his electronics-whiz-but-otherwise-dumb comic-relief guy Riley, and Dr. Angela Chase, who's in charge at the National Archives Museum but soon gets caught up in the events, besides the developing romance between her and Ben. The bad guys usually don't figure out the clues, but try to take advantage of it when the good guys do. Nice and intriguing and sort of a plot "twist." There's also some nice character development between Ben and his father, who didn't believe in the legend and thought it was a waste of time.

It's pretty clean, too. Chase's clothing is annoying for a few minutes after she leaves the formal party, but then she changes (and that event in itself is borderline---Chase and Ben change behind those door-stall-things in clothing department stores. You don't really see anything, of course, but still...) But come on, who cares about modesty these days, right? There's little violence and practically no blood, and, suprisingly, only one guy dies! (Although I did wonder how many times the bad guys were gonna miss everytime they shot at Ben) And despite the romance, there's a suprising absence of sexual jokes or innuendoes or the like. In other words, it's pretty clean.

Unfortunately, it's also predictable. When Ben lets Ian get the Declaration of Independence, you just know that it's not the real one. You just know that---well, I won't give too much away. But it's not too hard to figure out what's gonna happen next. And of course the whole things is just kinda far-fetched. Come on, another treasure? Like there's really a map on the back of the Declaration of Independence! Like the clock on the back of the $100 bill really means something! However, it'll probably inspire interest in Washington D.C.'s history and all that. You know, people wondering, so how much of that is actually true?

So, here's the final verdict: It's a good typical action movie, with nice music and special effects and humor. It's also far-fetched and predictable, and there's nothing specactular about it. But if you're willing to suspend a little disbelief, it's an enjoyable movie.

Edmond the Hun