Good film, but far-fetched. Enjoyable.

Rating: 8/10 (18 January 2005)

This was an enjoyable film about a man in search of lost treasure, who eventually discovers it and allows the rest of mankind to benefit from it, probably in part because he did not want to go to prison. I though the idea of following the clues to get more clues and find the treasure worked really well. The relationship between Gates and Dr Chase grew throughout the film and was worked out well. Sean Bean as bad guy Ian acted his part well and was believable.
Near the end of the film: When Ian and the bad guys left the good guys down in the pit, after being given a false clue to the whereabouts of the treasure, Ben and his dad start talking about the treasure not being there in the empty-ish room they found, and wanting to keep seeking it. I suddenly thought, oh no, they are not going to find it, the film will end, and then we have to watch the sequel and maybe more sequels while he tries to find the lost treasure. But, they then found the other room and that was okay, otherwise I would have felt let down if they had not found the treasure.
I think there is a message in this: Ian was greedy for rewards he would get from the treasure, thinking perhaps it was just gold he could sell, but ended up being caught by the FBI and no doubt spending a long time in prison. Ben was a good guy who wanted to do the right thing, even when no one believed him and it appeared wrong to steal the Declaration of Independence, and yet it was the right thing to do as he ended up finding the treasure. He did not keep it, it would have been too much for one man anyway, and the right thing to do was to give it to mankind to view in museums, and for historians to study. Finding scrolls from ancient Alexandria would be a great treasure worth more than gold, if they could be read and deciphered and were intact.
The other thing that struck me about this film was some of the clever dialog and intellectual remarks, which were not too much nor self-righteous, but which gave the film an intelligent feel, rather than it being a dumb film about good guys being chased by bad guys. Not your average adventure film! The whole idea of the treasure though is very far fetched, but it works OK for this movie, but I doubt if it would be true. But who knows what treasures might be hidden away somewhere from our ancient past?