I Laughed, I Mentally Screamed, I Fell In Love With the Comic Relief

Rating: Null/10 (26 November 2004)

Ah, you always have a clearer picture once the movie has been viewed twice, and with National Treasure, there is no pain involved in going back to the theatre a second time. Despite a couple of minor gripes (which I shall attend to in a moment), I thought the movie was very good. The characters were fun (especially Riley, I've love him and I can't help it; I'm a sucker for the comic relief. And if that comic relief just happens to be proficient with computers, all the sweeter.) Nicolas Cage did quite a good job as Ben Gates, despite the silly name of his character. Kruger did a nice job as Abigail Chase (though did we really need to see so much of her breasts in the beginning? Yes, she has them, thank you for sharing), and I found myself rather liking Ian, the main baddie, despite, you know, his evil baddie-ness. I mean, he just wanted money. He is the heart and soul of capitalism. All hail!
The plot was fun and interesting, very action-adventure, complete with mandatory Blowing (Beep) Up scenes, which in this case was quite unfortunate, since I rather liked the thing that got blown up. Imagine what I could have done with that gun powder...My Grandpa, with whom I viewed this movie for the second time, said it had a strikingly similar plot to The DaVinci Code, a book he recently read. I haven't the foggiest if it was coincidence or piracy or what, but if the DaVinci Code is anything like National Treasure, I look forward to reading it.
Now, to the plot-holes. In my AP US History class we didn't cover the Freemasons, so I won't comment on whatever historical bloopers were made, but I shall endeavor to speak of the practical ones...like WHY THE BLEEDING (Beep!) WAS BEN GATES NOT WEARING GLOVES *IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ARCTIC CIRCLE*? I mean, is this guy flirting with frostbite or what? And it can't be much warmer inside Charlotte than out, look at the snow. It was downright silly. My second and final annoyance was that Ben Gates figured out the clues with truly remarkable speed...But then, he's a very obsessed history major, so I suppose if anyone could figure out the clues with supernatural quickness, it would be him.
Overall, I would rate it 9/10. A very fun movie, if you can turn a blind eye to a couple of goofs.
(I ((heart)) Riley!)