Surprisingly funny, clever, and warm!

Rating: 8/10 (26 February 2007)

Fans of the "historical treasure hunt" genre will undoubtedly note similarities to Indiana Jones, however, the way National Treasure refers to its venerable ancestor feels like a tribute, rather than a poor attempt at credibility or plot borrowing. The best part of this film are the characters. Aside from the bad guys, the characters feel quite natural - each with his/her idiosyncrasies, but not so much stereotyped that the character didn't seem real. The dialogue is a bit hammy every now and then, but not bad; the hamminess is tolerable given how clever the dialogue is otherwise. The characters' lines, in fact, their actions, not only do the job of moving the script along, but also implicitly help to make clear their intentions, and how they perceive the intentions of the others.
All in all, very well done!