Let’s face it: Nicholas Cage has a reputation. As a friend of mine likes to point out, you are more likely to think of any character played by Nicholas Cage in a movie as “Nicholas Cage” and not by the character’s actual name. And that’s not necessarily because Cage is a bad or lazy actor. By all accounts, he loves his work and puts real effort into everything he does. So, maybe I should try some of this stuff out when I find it on Netflix.
But hey, I’d never seen National Treasure before, and my podcast partner Jen said she liked treasure hunting movies like this one, so why not?
Inspired by a story he heard as a boy friend his grandfather (Christopher Plummer), Benjamin Franklin Gates (Cage) is a big believer in a lost treasure that hits all the classic conspiracy theories (the Templar Knights took it from Egypt and the Freemasons hid it), but which most historians believe is a load of hooey. It’s an old legend that has been passed down for generations of Gates men, including Ben’s father (Jon Voight). However, Ben’s work with a wealthy sponsor (Sean Bean) has led to some progress. The next clue would seem to be on the back of the Declaration of Independence, and Bean’s Ian sees no harm in “borrowing” one of America’s founding documents.
Of course, Ben does, and he and his computer expert Riley (Justin Bartha) now have a new mission: steal the Declaration and find the treasure before the greedy and ruthless Ian does. Ben doesn’t care about the money. He cares about history and the country. And if all that gets him a like-minded love interest (Diane Kruger) while keeping him one step ahead of an FBI agent (Harvey Keitel), so much the better.
So, in the grand scheme of things, one thing is certain: this is obviously a Jerry Bruckheimer movie. It has the familiar look and beats of one of his works, with a determined central hero, a goofy sidekick, and a host of other familiar tropes for the genre and producer. And that’s…fine. I wouldn’t go out of my way for such movies, but they can be entertaining enough. Cage brings a doofy earnestness to the role, and no one seems to be having a bad time. He may be an unconventional choice for a bland action hero type, but he never seems like he shouldn’t be there.
Truthfully, I prefer Cage in something that allows him to be weird, something along the lines of either the comedic Raising Arizona or the bizarre horror of Mandy.
That said, despite the narrative popping around the most important cities for the founding of the United States, Bean’s Ian never seems particularly dangerous. Bean can do sinister, but this guy just, well, isn’t. Even as his armed goons chase Cage’s Gates around various locations, sometimes shooting at him, they never made me think for a minute any of the protagonists were in any real danger. Maybe it was because Gates seems to be on a first name basis with all of them.
That lack of danger leaves the movie as little more than the stunts and clues Gates and Co. go through to find the treasure that may or may not exist. And those are passable but nothing more. Give the movie a sense of real danger and not a bad guy who almost seems like he could just as easily be Gates’ friend as his enemy, and you might have something that isn’t just a by-the-numbers Bruckheimer movie.
Grade: C
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