Edge-of-the-seat thriller that beats the pants off "Raiders of the Lost Ark"

Rating: 8/10 (11 December 2004)

If you see this one, be sure to stock up on snacks and visit the restroom BEFORE you enter the theater. For you won't be able to leave your seat once this fabulous thriller starts. The plot concerns an historian/engineer/Navy diver's (Nicholas Gage) obsession with finding a treasure supposedly hidden by the Founding Fathers during or shortly after the Revolution. The treasure had its roots in ancient times, having been protected first by the Knights Templar (of the Crusades), then by the Freemasons (a secret society whose members included Washington, Franklin, and others). Through luck and brilliant deduction, Gage learns that the back side of the original of the Declaration of Independence contains key clues to the treasure's location. Aided by a Natural Archives archivist (Diane Kruger) and his comic foil sidekick (Justin Bartha), Gage travels from D.C. to Philadelphia to New York in pursuit of the treasure. Problem is, they're pursued themselves, by a gang of treasure hunters who would stop at nothing (including murder) to get their hands on this multi-billion dollar find.
OK, that's the plot in a nutshell. On the plus side, the film features many superb special effects (e.g., the explosion of the Arctic ship) and breakneck pacing. While prevalent, the violence is not gratuitous or graphic. And except for a brother-sister smooch or two between Gage and Kruger, the sex is non-existent.
On the minus side, the writers should have done a little better job at their historical research. For example, early in the film we learn that the first clue in the treasure hunt was provided by Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence, whom (we are told) was a Freemason. That's an impossibility, as Carroll, a devout Roman Catholic, was prohibited from joining the Masons under penalty of excommunication! But such "peccadilloes" do little to dull the brilliance of this rousing mystery-thriller, against which "Raiders of the Lost Ark," "The Temple of Doom," etc., can't hold a torch.