"That's a nice-a donut."

Wednesday, June 08, 2005

National Treasure

It's quite easy to imagine that many potential movies are pitched to studios by way of relating them to established, hit movies. It is a proven formula, for better or worse. For instance, a young screenwriter may try to sell his can't-miss script about a futuristic dreamlike-world about a group of misfit high school students who band together to fight a colony of deadly creatures by hiring a rebel smuggler and his pet wookiee, all while trying to get laid by saying: "It's The American Pie Breakfast Club meets Star Wars to fight Aliens in The Matrix!" What producer wouldn't buy that in a second? Similarly, I imagine that the pitch for National Treasure must have gone something like this: "It's Indiana Jones meets Ocean's 11 and The Mummy at The Rock!" Not too mention a dash here and a pinch there of seemingly every action-adventure film in recent memory - particularly those in the Jerry Bruckheimer library.

Nicolas Cage is Benjamin Franklin Gates, a lifelong treasure hunter... well, more like treasure protector. For generations his family has been passing on a clue that could lead to a mythical treasure that may (or may not) have been hidden by the country's founding fathers around the time of the American Revolution. Ben and his colleagues, Shaw and Riley, discover one of the secrets but internal strife leads Shaw to attack them and vow to steal the Declaration of Independence (since a newfound clue points to a map on the back of the historic text). Ben and Riley (Justin Bartha, playing the role of the quirky tech-genius) must act to stop him, while at the same time, trying to find the treasure themselves. Along the way they team up with pretty scientist Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger) from the National Archives and end up on an adventure that takes them from D.C. to Philadelphia to New York, where we stop to check out several historic sites. Oh yeah - we can't forget Ben's father (Jon Voight), who of course gave up on the dream of finding the treasure long ago and now thinks that the whole story is a fairy tale.

Other than the very cliched and fairly predictable story, some of the key plot points are quite absurd. Shaw becoming the necessary "bad guy" is sudden and forced, and the theft of the declaration is among the more unbelievable things I've ever seen on film. Compare that to the big heist from Ocean's 11 which, though still unbelievable, is done so well that you barely bat an eyelash. Also, Harvey Keitel as an FBI agent is just around to cash a paycheck and is pretty much wasted. For that matter, most of the acting is rather pedestrian, including Cage who has been much better before.

Director John Turtletaub and Bruckheimer have fashioned a movie from parts of scores of other films. There is not a single original idea here. The editing is straight out of the MTV playbook. And yet, this mindless film is rather fun. National Treasure has witty banter, chase scenes, obligatory romance, misunderstandings, suspense and intrigue, and an audience-friendly ending. It is a decent way to escape for two hours, but I'm not sure I'd want to do it again. After all, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Ocean's 11, and even The Rock all have elements of the same story and they are all better films.

The Verdict: C+.

Michael Bentley 10:35 AM