If only they tried a bit harder

Rating: 4/10 (1 December 2004)

The frustrating thing about watching a film like "National Treasure" is knowing that had writers Jim Kouf, Cormac Wibberley and Marianne Wibberley, and director Jon Turteltaub tried just a bit harder, they might very well have made a fun, exciting adventure yarn.
Occasionally, they manage to squeeze out a moment that hints of fun, when they might have got the tone right. But such bits of pleasure are so sporadic. And they seemingly paid no attention to their story.
True, "National Treasure" is a popcorn film, a movie where you leave logic behind and expect to get caught up in the excitement, no matter how outlandish the story is. But even mindless entertainment still needs some magic and heart. This one is worse than watered-down Indiana Jones stuff.
Kouf and the Wibberleys make everything too easy. This is one of those films where the heroes uncover little clues as they go along. But the clues placed apparently by our Founding Fathers are so incredibly cryptic, they never could have expected anyone to solve them. Yet here's Ben Gates (Nicolas Cage) reading a preposterously enigmatic riddle and within seconds figuring out the answer is the Declaration of Independence! Don't even ask how easily he finds a crucial secret in the vast, barren expanse of the Arctic. And for us to buy even a smidgen of this story, we have to believe that some of our more important buildings - the National Archives in Washington, D.C., and Independence Hall in Philadelphia - have some of the most lax security in the world.
The problem with "National Treasure" is its script. Which, I suppose, shouldn't surprise anyone. Kouf's more recent screenplays include "Snow Dogs" (2002) and "Taxi" (2004), while the Wibberleys' contributions to the world of cinema include "The 6th Day" (2000), "I Spy" (2002) and "Charlie's Angels 2: Full Throttle" (2003).
"National Treasure" is uninspired, lazy storytelling. The action scenes provide little excitement and are too infrequent. As good an actor as Cage is, he might be getting just a bit too old for these parts and really gets nothing to work with. No clever one-liners, no witty comebacks. Diane Kruger as National Archivist Abigail Chase has a better role here than she did earlier this year in "Troy." Then again, that isn't saying much. At least, she doesn't have ridiculous dialogue like, "Last night was a mistake," this time around.
Justin Bartha gets to play the comic relief as Ben's sidekick, Riley Poole, but the jokes aren't all that good. Harvey Keitel's stuck in a winless role as an FBI agent, while Sean Bean gets to play the bad guy - again. However, unlike in the Indiana Jones films, the bad guy here isn't really all that villainous. He wants the treasure, but there isn't an evil or nasty streak in him. He's just a greedy rich guy.
And, of course, the big question no one in the film bothers to answer is why is this treasure so important that it had to be hidden away for so long? Its discovery certainly wouldn't change the course of the world in any way. And this lethargic story doesn't change adventure movies for the better, either.