A film
review by James Berardinelli for ReelViews.net.
I'm as willing as any movie-lover to
accept a certain amount of ridiculousness in a movie if it serves the greater
purpose of entertainment. And, when it comes to action movies, I like to think
that my level of tolerance is pretty high. Hey, I enjoyed the first Tomb Raider movie. But National Treasure takes too many liberties and goes too
far. This infantile excuse for an adventure yarn plays more like a triple-cross
between The DaVinci Code, CSI,
and The Amazing Race, than Raiders of the Lost Ark. In
fact, as tempting as it might be to call this Raiders of the Pilfered Plot,
that would be unfair, because National
Treasure's storyline isn't compelling or coherent enough to warrant the
term plot.
National Treasure is one of those seemingly endless races that pits The Lord of the Rings' Boromir/Goldeneye's
Agent 006 (Sean Bean) against Treasure Protector Ben Gates (Nicolas Cage). The movie seems longer
than Around the World in 80
Days, but isn't as well-traveled. After a brief and confusing prologue
spent in colonial times, the film takes us above the Arctic Circle, then to
Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and New York City. The best thing that can be
said about this is that director Jon
Turteltaub (Instinct, Phenomenon) elected to film in these places,
rather than going to Toronto and pretending. (There are plenty of other things
to strain the viewer's credulity - making believe Bloor Street is Broadway
isn't needed.) Expert cinematographer Caleb
Deshanel makes sure we know that the actors really are in D.C., Philly, and
the Big Apple.
In movies of this sort, in order for so
much pointless running around to have meaning, character investment is
mandatory - consider, for example, Speed.
Unfortunately, we have none. Ben acts like an autistic Sherlock Holmes,
alternating between genius-like leaps of intuition and moments of astounding
stupidity. Ben believes that there's a huge, hidden treasure that was
squirreled away by the Founding Father members of the Freemasons (who have some
sort of tenuous connection to the Knights Templar, although don't ask me to
explain that in detail). The clues to its location are found on one dollar
bills, hundred dollar bills, letters written by Ben Franklin, and on the back
of the Declaration of Independence. Ben has managed to convince a few others of
the validity of the treasure hunt, including his sidekick, Riley (Justin Bartha), and his rival, Ian (the
aforementioned Boromir). Along the way, after stealing the Declaration, Ben
picks up a love interest with impressive cleavage - the attractive Abigail (Troy's
Helen, Diane Kruger). He kisses her
once while they're in danger in a blatant attempt to convince everyone that
this is really a date movie.
National Treasure is just plain dumb, and not dumb in a way that is enjoyable or
endearing. The dialogue is clunky, resulting in more than a few intentionally
funny lines. (My favorite: following an explosion near the North Pole, one of
the characters exclaims: Let's go before
someone sees the smoke! Who is he worried about? Santa Claus?) Nicolas Cage
delivers every word with the solemn intonation of someone who doesn't
understand what he's saying but thinks it must be important. And one is
hard-pressed to figure out why Harvey
Keitel, Christopher Plummer, and Jon
Voight make appearances.
The movie follows a recognizable
pattern: plodding exposition, running around in the arctic, plodding
exposition, running around in Washington D.C., plodding exposition, running
around in Philadelphia, plodding exposition, running around in New York City
(and under New York City), plodding exposition,
happy ending. It's all as uninspired and uninteresting as it sounds. There's a
common belief that if a movie has enough movement, it cannot be boring. The
reality is that movement without purpose is a sleep-inducer, and National Treasure has more than two hours of that.
Jerry Bruckheimer's fingerprints are all over National Treasure. Although the
history-twisting conspiracy theories are borrowed from The DaVinci Code (which is soon to get its own
cinematic adaptation), the visual style is pure CSI and the structure owes a lot to The Amazing Race. Both of those TV shows are from Bruckheimer. This
is yet another example of the big-screening of the small screen. Then again,
considering the ratings those two programs get, National Treasure could be headed for box office gold.
It's too bad it's missing the gems that make movies worthwhile: intelligence, character
development, and a legitimate storyline. National
Treasure deserves to be buried. [Berardinelli's rating: * 1/2 out of 4]
Labels:
action, adventure, Ferrari, mystery, thriller
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