National Treasure stars Academy Award winner
Nicolas Cage
as Benjamin Franklin Gates. Ever
since he was a boy, Gates has been obsessed with finding the
legendary Knights Templar Treasure, the
greatest fortune known
to man. As Gates tries
to find and
decipher ancient riddles that will
lead him
to it, he's dogged by a ruthless
enemy (Sean Bean) who wants the riches for himself. Now in a race
against time, Gates must steal one of America's most sacred and
guarded documents - the Declaration of Independence - or let it,
and a key clue to the mystery, fall into dangerous hands. To make
matters worse is the FBI is hot on Gates' trail.
CRITIQUE
National Treasure
is one of those movies you hate to love and love to hate. The
script has holes and the story goes to great lengths to introduce
some mystery and show off a good amount of action scenes. Certain
moments in the movie feel questionable and over the top but the
idea of hunting for a treasure hidden on the back of the
Declaration of Independence makes for a fun premise, and somehow
director John Turtletaub and producer Jerry Bruckheimer come up
with a fairly entertaining ride. I feel a little guilty saying it
but that's okay. At a running time of nearly 130 minutes the movie
plays a bit longer than it should. Nicolas Cage looks like he had
fun making the movie as he plays his character as fun and
determined. The supporting characters are alright with the
standout being Gates' sidekick friend, and Sean Bean does an okay
bad guy impression.
THE VIDEO
Buena Vista presents
National Treasure in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. Colors look clean
and well saturated. Print quality is very good, as is sharpness
and detail. Optional subtitles include English, Spanish and
French.
THE AUDIO
Buena Vista presents
National Treasure in English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround. Dialogue is clear and
easy to understand, with the front speakers delivering noise free
audio. The rear speakers are active during the action scenes, and the sound effects and
score are presented clearly. A French Dolby Digital Stereo dub
track is also available.
THE EXTRAS
The extras on this
DVD are presented in a "treasure hunting" way that seems to take
after the movie. Solve some clues and riddles and you uncover more
extras. While this is kind of okay fun I wish the extras would've
been presented clearly.
The following extras
can be selected from a menu:
National
Treasure On Location is a 12-minute featurette that takes
the viewer on a brief behind-the-scenes tour of the movie with
plenty of interviews and on-set footage. It's nothing special but
gets the job done.
Several deleted
scenes (8 min) are available with optional commentary
by director John Turtletaub. They're okay to watch. An Opening
Animatic (2 min) presented in simple CGI is included, as is an
Alternate Ending (2 min) that the filmmakers decided not to
use, which after seeing it you'll agree was the right decision.
The next few
extras you have to "hunt" for:
Treasure Hunters Revealed is a 9-minute
featurette featuring interviews with real life modern day treasure
hunters. There's some neat stuff in here and that's all it is.
The Knights Templar is a 5-minute history
featurette that gives viewers an idea who these people were.
Riley Poole's Decode This! is an
interactive puzzle solving feature that seems at first interesting but
then falls short of it. It seems geared more towards kids who like to
solve puzzles, I guess.
There is also a trivia track that plays
with the movie, but it's not that interesting. A few good things come
out of it, but a director/cast commentary would've been more
interesting.
A Verizon Bonus commercial is featured
but it didn't do anything for me. Waste of space.
FINAL THOUGHTS
National Treasure
isn't perfect entertainment as the script has holes and some of
the action is over the top but the end result is an entertaining
ride that's mindless yet effective somehow. The extras aren't
great, but decent. I wouldn't go as far as recommending this movie
for a purchase, but most definitely a rental.
