Independence duh!

Rating: 4/10 (15 December 2004)

The tried-and-trusted Bruckheimer formula makes this wild goose chase cornily entertaining for the first hour or so, then it starts to drag on a bit. In fact it drags on a lot. In fact, I was at the point where if another treasure hunter wandered into another gloomy, cobwebby nook or cranny just one more time, I was going to scream. Or leave.
The tricksy but reasonably undemanding plot is fun, but the movie runs out of momentum, stretched as it is over two hours and stuffed with unconvincing, by-the-numbers characters. Cage looks sheepish, Jon Voight looks lost, Diane Kruger is little more than a pretty trinket and Sean Bean is about as menacing as a baked bean.
National Treasure also confirmed two things: (1) Nicolas Cage can't run, and (2) Jerry Bruckheimer never makes movies with American baddies - not even the henchmen.