A Pinoy Blog About Nothing

Early reviews of National Treasure mentioned that it reminiscent of Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code and I thought “Oh okay. Templar treasure. American History. Ok.” But then at the beginning of the movie the Disney logo came out and I thought “Oh it’s going to be that kind of movie.”

That kind of movie isn’t necessarily bad but an adventure movie that boasts of Indiana Jones like thrills, the last thing you’d like to see is the House of Mouse logo. That said, the movie itself isn’t half-bad and it does have its moments.

Nicholas Cage plays a man with the unfortunate name of Benjamin Franklin Gates, the latest from a long line of dishonored Gates. Generations of Gates have proved unsuccessful to find the lost treasure of the Templars which is believed to have been hidden by the United States’ Founding Fathers. In his latest attempt to find the treasure, Ben Gates finds a clue which leads to the Declaration of Independence a document jealously guarded by a beautiful custodian named Abigail Chase (played by Diane Kruger - anybody remember her from Troy? No? She was freakin’ HELEN for pete’s sake! You were all busy looking at Brad Pitt’s butt.) Boromir…er…Sean Bean who plays a rival treasure hunter is also after the treasure for his own selfish reasons. And so Ben and his funny sidekick (Disney movie remember?) Riley must look for the treasure before Bean’s Ian Howe and the FBI finds them.

Typical of a Bruckheimer movie, National Treasure boasts of huge, lavish settings to convey how epic the adventure was supposed to be. While the whole premise of the Templar treasure is a bit tired (I suggest picking up Holy Blood, Holy Grail published 20 years before Brown’s Da Vinci Code) putting a map on the US’ Declaration of Independence and conscripting the Founding Fathers in a Masonic conspiracy was intriguing. You’ll really need to suspend disbelief if mere lemon juice can hide something at the back of a very important document. I mean if ol’ Benjamin Franklin can whip up a far more wicked encryption technique, why not use it all the way?

The ending of course is predictable. Again, it’s a Disney flick. It’s all harmless, sometimes educational fun. I have to give it credit because the movie doesn’t take itself too seriously and the GP-rated humor goes a long way. It’s not a total waste of time and it is entertaining although it’s not something you’d want to see over and over again.