The Loot Of Our Founding Fathers

Rating: 7/10 (24 July 2007)

National Treasure is one fanciful tale of Sean Bean and Nicholas Cage each seeking what is the treasure of the Knights Templar which got handed down to our Founding Fathers and hidden away for over 200 years. Of course Bean is quite a bit less scrupulous than Cage, but guess who triumphs in the end?
Our story takes us from the Arctic, to the Smithsonian in Washington, to the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia and finally to New York City near the site of George Washington's Inaugural. Once the action gets going it doesn't pause for too many minutes. National Treasure borrows a great deal in plot and pace from the Indiana Jones films.
Of course this plot has enough bullet holes in it that one with a reasonable knowledge of American history can find, but it's still a rather enjoyable film. Harvey Keitel is fine as the FBI agent pursuing Cage who's looking for the treasure and pursuing and avoiding Bean at the same time. Why is the FBI after Cage? Well he stole something rather irreplaceable.
Of course the part that I find a bit preposterous is the fact of where the location was. I can't believe that with the amount of excavation for construction done around there, the treasure wasn't located a hundred years ago.
Best in the film is Justin Bartha as Cage's sidekick. He has a really great deadpan delivery of the best lines in the film.