National Treasure (Widescreen Edition)
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DVD Cover Information Actor: Diane Kruger, Jon Voight, Justin Bartha, Nicolas Cage, Sean Bean Director: Jon Turteltaub Brand: National Producer: Barry H. Waldman Producer: Benjamin Melniker Writer: Charles Segars Writer: Cormac Wibberley Writer: Jim Kouf Writer: Marianne Wibberley Writer: Oren Aviv DVD: Region Code 1 Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); French (Dubbed), Unknown Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen Picture Format: 2.35:1 Running Time: 131 minutes DVD Release Date: 2005-05-03 Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) Studio: Buena Vista Home Entertainment |
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Movie Reviews of National Treasure (Widescreen Edition)
Movie Review: The Moose Hole - Respectable Find
Summary: 4 Stars
Jerry Bruckheimer stands alone as the reigning king of Hollywood producers - not only does he have a combined domestic gross of nearly three billion dollars at the box office but he has stacked up the highest rated shows in television all on one network - Without a Trace, Cold Case, and the three Crime Scene Investigation shows. Unfortunately, his once golden touch is beginning to fade, at least in respects to his feature film division. Bad Boys II, despite being number one at the box office when it opened, failed to make as much as was expected, Veronica Guerin was barely noticed at the Academy Awards, let alone the box office, and King Arthur was another expensive miss for the Walt Disney Company, which had already been wracked with an awful summer prior to its release. The fact that this film has been boiling in the pre-production pot for the past three or four years doesn't bode well for its release, another poor domestic gross would be disastrous for Disney, but if Bruckheimer could make Pirates work despite its extensive problems, there's room for hope.
The story centers on a man who must unlock a series of codes and riddles to unravel the greatest secret in America's history. Imagine for a moment the greatest treasure the world has ever known. Started long ago, this vast amount of gold coins, beautifully crafted sculptures, and historical ancient texts was passed on from one tyrannical dictatorship to the next, from the Egyptians to the Romans and so on, through the ages and, as it did so, the treasure grew with each passing century, until it suddenly vanished. Accidentally discovered by the knights of one of the crusades during the Middle Ages, these men, who would go on to be known as the Knights Template, took an oath to protect the secret of the fantastic treasure at any cost. As European progress began to expand westward, the treasure, along with the keepers of the mystery, were brought to the new world and hidden in America by the Founding Fathers themselves - George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin - in order to be kept out of the hands of the British or any oppressive force that would desire it. Jumping forward to the modern day, Benjamin Franklin Gates is a third-generation "treasure protector" who has spent all of his life devoted to discovering the mysteries behind the age-old secrets of the national treasure, one his own father believes doesn't exist. Unfortunately, Gates is not the only one who seeks the national treasure and when word gets out about the invisible map on the back of the Declaration of Independence, he must steal the sacred document before it falls into the wrong hands. What he thought was the last clue was only the beginning - one riddle leads to another clue and with each new discovery he draws ever closer to unlocking one of the greatest mysteries in this nation's, as well as the world's, history. The story for National Treasure is not a thing to be concreted on too longingly, though to be true, this one is a bit more of a thinker then the average film of the action-adventure genre, at least in recent months. It is, to be honest, a non-stop action-packed crime capper from beginning to end, though not in the sense of Ocean's Eleven and it's even paced style of play. We're talking mindless destruction, blazing bullets in every direction, and good old-fashioned chase sequences - the basic Bruckheimer package, complete with Nicholas Cage. If you're going for originality and, dare we say it, a bit of class, hold off on this thought until Ocean's Twelve opens in December.
Nicholas Cage, an actor who owes practically his entire career to Jerry Bruckheimer for giving him his first break-out performance in The Rock back in 1996, and then another touted role in Con-Air, fits perfectly into the role even though it does take the character awhile to be comfortable with audiences. Unlike past hero roles in Bruckheimer flicks, the cards are already out on the table for this character - can't blame him too much though, he even says in the film he has a bad bluffing face. There's no emotional build-up for the character in the beginning and doesn't present himself as a natural bad-ass as Indiana Jones did, in certain respects, in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Supposedly at one point in the course of writing then re-writing the script for this film, Krueger's character apparently was a central figure in the story's plot - what happened along the way to have this as a result? Abigail Chase adds nothing to the overall effective or efficiency of the storyline besides the whole slightly-subtle romantic subplot between Gates and Chase. Even the whole romantic angle between Nicholas Cage and Diane Krueger feels overly-forced, especially that out of the blue kiss near the end of the film. There's undoubtedly chemistry between the two from what little is seen on screen but there isn't enough time spent on that aspect to go beyond the sped-up version of the usual romantic formula in action flicks - annoying each other to the point of falling in love. Another character that fails to provide much, if any, material to the film was Jon Voight's Patrick Gates, the predictable and doubting father of our leading hero. The character itself is pathetically clichéd at worst, an absolute travesty at worst. The father believes the treasure to be a myth and says the son is wasting his entire life, a series of events twist fate, and suddenly he reveals to his son that he has always believed in him - anyone has a Kleenex? This isn't too much of squabble, barely noticeable except for the ending, which seems to be the main source of problems for this film. Here's a question though, with as many revisions as there were for this script, how is it that the ending was still never resolved properly? And finally, where would this film be without Justin Bartha's Riley Poole? An absolute drag, flat from start to finish, but thankfully that doesn't happen. His character is undoubtedly one of the most memorable highlights of the film and works well off-balancing the film's serious moments with sarcastic quips and humorous one-liners.
Overall, National Treasure, when all is said and done, is the equivalent of splicing together the History Channel and FX - yes, it's funny to look at, visually engaging, and, perhaps, insightful into a particular area of study or interest which may be gained along the way but, as is the case with any relationship that that indulges in the concepts of fluff rather then concrete facts, there is bound to be a serious lack of substance. That theory holds true for each and every one of Jerry Bruckheimer's productions, given the exception of his television series on C-BS, but even that may be up for debate. It's not that National Treasure is a horrendous film, it's certainly no Raiders of the Lost Ark or even Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow but still it is quite intriguing to say the least, but it undoubtedly lacks some originality and deliverance of results, most notably at the end. The reason the ending fails in its message is that the Founding Fathers didn't have a hippie-dippy view of society - they didn't believe that every human being was inherently born good; in fact they saw the world in quite the opposite way. This alone makes the finale illogical but, as has been said, people aren't expected to look too much into this. Will anyone truly learn anything extraordinary about the Founding Fathers, those who risked life and limb to ensure freedom from oppression and tyranny and to lay the foundation for the fundamental rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, or, more importantly, anything about America herself? God, no! Please people, this is a Jerry Bruckheimer film after all. I will give him credit though, he sure knows one Hell of a way to make an engaging action-caper without having to result to mindless blood-spilling and skin flashing - though he has covered that area as well with the Bad Boys series but that's another story - but do you really expect to have audiences come to his films to be educated? Quite frankly, you'd be lucky to find one gawk-eyed teenager exiting the theater that would be able to recall the name of one of the film's main characters, let alone of the one of the Founding Fathers of the Untied States of America. Then what is redeemable about this film? The musical score is fantastic and blends excessively well with the actions on screen - this has always, and will forever be, a key staple of a Jerry Bruckheimer film, no matter how bad the story is. The action sequences, though formulaic at times, do keep audience members engaged and as long as the interest is there, nothing matters as much in the end. And finally, though it may be historically inaccurate, the National Treasure thankfully doesn't take itself too seriously and can be enjoyed by even those who are easily put to sleep by the History Channel. In fact, for those with embedded knowledge of the country's founding or any other ancient references throughout the film may even get a kick out of watching this film, whether be lapping up the incorporation of history and mythology or pointing out every single historical mistake present in the feature - whatever floats your boat. Oscar-caliber isn't even in the cards for this film but does anyone going to this film truly expect that type of quality? As always, spend wisely this holiday season.