Not to be taken seriously, a moderately interesting discovery caper.

Rating: Null/10 (22 May 2005)

"National Treasure" is a fictional story of an enormously valuable treasure that Colonial Americans hid from the British for safe keeping. (Anyone who has been through the British Museum in London knows how the ancient Brits enjoyed plundering and bringing treasure back home, so the premise is plausible.) Problem is, no one person in the group of men back in the 1700s knew exactly where the treasure was hidden, but there existed a series of "clues". Ever since he was a small boy and he heard the story from his grandfather, Benjamin Franklin Gates, just called Ben (Nicolas Cage), was obsessed with finding the treasure. His dad (Jon Voight) had apparently spent lots of energy in his younger days searching for clues, and didn't believe the treasure existed. he considered it a ruse to distract the British. Besides, the Gates family now had a reputation for being a bit kookie! I enjoyed the movie, and I generally like Nic Cage, but when it was over there was nothing particularly lasting about the viewing experience. The veterans Voight and Sean Bean (as Ian, the bad guy, naturally) were good. The eventual love interest was played by German Diane Kruger who was there for her pretty face, but her acting is very ordinary. Good picture and sound on the DVD.
SPOILERS. The movie opens with a search party, led by Ben and including Ian, following a "Charlotte" clue, find the long lost ship "Charlotte" in the Arctic Circle under ice, which they hope have the treasure. It doesn't only gun powder and an elaborate carved smoking pipe. In it is a clue, which they deduct leads to the Declaration of Independence. Ian turns on them, and an explosion on the ship leads him to believe Ben has been killed. Ben knows Ian will steal the Declaration, so he must steal it first, to protect it. Ian uses brute force, Ben uses cunning, and Ben gets to it first. The chase begins, Ian eventually gets it, an invisible map and some codes lead them to Manhattan and Wall Street, then a church, then a burial vault, then a very deep underground cavern (impossible under Manhattan??) Meanwhile Ian is misdirected to Boston, while Ben finds the treasure behind yet another wall. Ian is arrested, the wealth is divided up among all the peoples, Ben and Abigail get a grand new home.