Review: National Treasure

To new generation relic hunter, Ben Gates (Cage), the only thing more valuable to him than treasure, was erasing his families legacy of failure. He and his partner Ian (Bean) come to the realization that in order to find this lost bounty, they need a map. That map? The Declaration of Independence. Like any heist, when the stakes are raised, it becomes every man for himself. The hunt is on.

Upon leaving the theater, I said "This is what Tomb Raider" should have been like. It was exciting, humorous, very fast paced heist filled fun. No high flying wire work, bad accents, or killer robots. Nic Cage was cunning in his portrayal of a rare character in heist movies. One that isn't looking to benefit from the treasure, but for from rewriting his family's history, with admirable, yet backhanded patriotism. Justin Bartha as Riley played the Disney family friendly comic relief, Diane Kruger was cast as the female equivalent of Gates, except a lot more attractive, all while Sean Bean brought a shady, Boromir-esque presence to the role of Ian.

It was refreshing to see a big job movie that didn't contain the heist movie cliches. Gunplay was minimal, and money wasn't even a motivator. Talk about a rarity in the genre! A truly unique, effective, and involving storyline with a pinch of patriotism and redemption. "National Treasure" is indeed a treasure in its own right, and it's swift 2 hours well spent, IMO.

yep can't wait to see the film I know it is about templer nights I also heard that they took the arc of the covenant from the temple mount in jerusalem.The movie looks exciting and nicholas cage always plays good roles so I think everyone should see this film.

Looks like one to go see then 🙂

I agree 100% Cinemaddiction! thumbsup

I heard it was very similar to the book "Da Vinci Code;" Ebert.

Is it worth seeing in theatres or should I wait for the DVD?

Uh..it has absolutely nothing to do with religion, so no.

I am looking forwards to it, but about the accent thing, if you directed that at Jolie in Tomb Raider, her accent was pretty good. I'm English and I know people who sound like she does in TR.

Just pointing out. 🙂

I saw National Treasure with my mom, my aunt, and my grandmother...all different generations of my family and every one of us loved this movie! It was awesome! I highly recommend it. Never listen to the movie critics...usually the more they dislike a movie the better it actually is.
My grandma pointed out that there was no gore or sex and there was very little violence and she really liked that about this movie...she also liked that there really was no foul language either...just a couple of slips of the tongue...but she loved that about the movie and it's a movie that makes your mind work and keeps you trying to figure out the clues and overall it was certainly not a waste of the $100 between tickets and snacks that we spent Friday night. 😄

I have heard a lot of positive reviews from people and $35 million is pretty impressive. I am going to try and go sneak out to it tonight...

I saw it and liked it. People enjoy a good action movie, that is just the way it is...

I really enjoyed this movie. There were a few cheesy parts, but over all it was very good. I think people like it because its something very different then most other movies today, its refreshing. But I also think the movie wouldn't have been nearly as good without Riley. I found his character to be hilarious. I would definately recommend seeing this!

How is it for littler kids. I mean i know it is PG, but is it something that everyone will enjoy cause I think I might wit and go see it with the fam this weekend. Gotta think of something to do...:-)

Great for kids, they might need a little explanation if they do not already know the history of the USA. It is full of action, and very wholesome. Even the bad guys are not too scary. Great family film, IMO...

Good movie. It was a nice mixture of a heist and adventure film. This mixture isnt attempted that much, and i dont know why. Maybe because most studios dont have Nick cage to fall back on, if their script fails. This flick was about %20 heist, %40 adventure, %30 acting and %10 dialogue. What i was pleased with most about this movie, was that it diddnt try and be a bigger and better product in it's genre. It created substance around a decent idea, rather than trying to create substance from a decent idea. Much like Oceans 11, This film knew what it wanted to do, and diddnt care if it was equal to the standards of other films in it's genre. i'd give it a 7/10 for being a fun ride.

Originally posted by Walfredo
How is it for littler kids.

Mine loved it 🙂

Awesome....ragesRemorse - that might be one of the best to-the-point reviews of a movie I have ever read. Thanx... I am even more excited to see this movie now. Thats exactly how I felt the movie should be (or at least was going to be) and I am glad that you described it like that. I just want something fun, that is aimed at being fun. Seems like a success....

Originally posted by Jedi Priestess
Mine loved it 🙂

there was a little girl next to me and she seemed to really enjoy it.. its a fun movie to go to.. obviously a bit sily in parts but the story was pretty cool riley had his funny moments and diane kruger is beautifull, sean bean, jon voight, and nick cage do a good job as always too so overall definantly worth going to see

I didn't think it looked good, but if Cory and JP liked it, I probably will too.

how many of these threads are there

especially for a crappy movie..

Well, the trailer makes it look a lot more bland than it really is. It's "topical", and has that "Indiana Jones" feel to it, when it's totally different.

I recommend it, especially over "The Polar Depress".