DVD Movie Rating for: National Treasure

Rating for National Treasure: 5 out of 5 stars

Movie Plot of: National Treasure

Nicolas Cage stars as the brilliant Benjamin Franklin Gates, third generation treasure hunter. All his life, Gates has been searching for a treasure no one believed existed: amassed through the ages, moved across continents, to become the greatest treasure the world has ever known.

Hidden by the American Founding Fathers, they left clues to the treasure's location before everyone's eyes. From the nations birthplace, to the nations capitol, to clues buried within the symbols on the dollar bill.

Gates' life long search leads him to the last place anyone thought to look: a map hidden on the back of the Declaration of Independence. But what he thought was the final clue, is only the beginning. In a race against time, Gates must elude the FBI, stay one step ahead of his ruthless adversary (<P>), decipher the remaining clues and unlock the 2000 year old mystery behind the United States' greatest national treasure

DVD Production Details of: National Treasure

National Treasure is not yet released on DVD

National Treasure DVD Extra Bonus Features

None

Cast of the movie: National Treasure

• Nicolas Cage .... Ben Gates
• Diane Kruger .... Abigail Chase
• Sean Bean .... Ian Howe
• Jon Voight .... Patrick Gates
• Justin Bartha .... Riley Poole
• Harvey Keitel .... Sadusky
• Christopher Plummer .... John Adams Gates
• David Dayan Fisher .... Shaw
• Stewart Finlay-McLennan .... Powell
• Oleg Taktarov .... Shippen
• Stephen A. Pope .... Phil (as Stephen Pope)
• Annie Parisse .... Agent Dawes
• Mark Pellegrino .... Agent Johnson
• Armando Riesco .... Agent Hendricks
• Erik King .... Agent Colfax
• Don McManus .... Dr. Stan Herbert
• Ron Canada .... Guard Woodruff
• Hunter Gomez .... Young Ben Gates
• Deborah Yates .... Rebecca
• Arabella Field .... Abigail's Secretary
• Sharon Wilkins .... Butcher Lady
• Alexandra Balahoutis .... Clothing Store Clerk
• Dior Raye .... Gift Store Clerk
• Yves Michel-Beneche .... Museum Kid
• Jason Earles .... Thomas Gates
• Terrence Currier .... Charles Carroll
• Rod McLachlan .... Independence Hall Guide
• Elizabeth Greenberg .... Liberty Bell Guide
• Jody Halse .... Franklin Institute Guard
• Liam Noble .... Franklin Institute Security
• Joshua Biton .... Technician
• Fern D. Baguidy Jr. .... Gala Guard
• Thomas Q. Morris .... Janitor
• Antony Alda .... Guard Ferguson
• John Travis .... Guard Mike
• Nick Benson .... Boy
• Gavin Black .... Cafe Patron
• Jackson Bolt .... Colonial Scout
• Louis Centanni .... Student
• Chrismandu .... Street Vendor
• Kym Cohen .... Shopper
• Blaze Kelly Coyle .... Tourist
• Cleve Gray .... DC Metro Police Officer
• Rodney J. Hobbs .... Coachman
• Yoshi Jenkins .... FBI agent
• Leslie A. Kronberger .... Shopper in Reading Terminal
• Tony Luke Jr. .... Strip Club sweeper
• Christina Mahon .... City Hall Tourist
• Sheila Thomas .... Guest At National Archives

Photo Gallery of the movie: National Treasure

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National Treasure starring Nicolas Cage, Diane Kruger

Reviews of the movie: National Treasure

There's something of The Da Vinci Code about National Treasure, with its plot that revolves around secrets of the Masons and Knights Templar, and codes and clues that can only be deciphered by an obsessive scholar - plus a girl, a deadly adversary, and trips to sites of cultural significance. There's also a touch of the Indiana Jones franchise about this Saturday-matinee action-adventure search for legendary treasure among tombs and monuments.

But there are a couple of significant distinctions. This is a firmly American enterprise. National is the key word. No uncomfortable excursions into foreign climes. The movie's settings (apart from a preliminary sally into the Arctic Circle) are major American cities. The origins of the mysterious loot might go back thousands of years, but the history in this film concerns the founding fathers, the Liberty Bell and, above all, the Declaration of Independence - a sacred document which, we understand, has a secondary function as a treasure map. AdvertisementAdvertisement

Nicolas Cage plays a character, Benjamin Franklin Gates, who has inherited a belief that this fantastic, if unspecified bounty can be located, and has found a sponsor, Ian Howe (Sean Bean), who has the money to help him realise his quest. Soon, however, he discovers that Howe - treacherous Briton that he is - can't be trusted. Howe plans to steal the Declaration of Independence and use the treasure it will reveal for his own enrichment: to protect the document, Gates realises, he will have to steal it. The film swiftly becomes a caper movie.

Gates has a single sidekick, although he acquires a glamorous co-conspirator (Diane Kruger) along the way.

He must steal the Declaration, decipher its secrets, restore his relationship with his father (Jon Voight), fight off Howe and his minions, and find the treasure. Director Jon Turteltaub keeps things moving competently, Nicolas Cage makes a reasonable enough history-buff action-hero, in a wide-eyed, cheerfully silly, instantly forgettable neo-Boy's Own Adventure that barely sets foot outside historic Washington and old New York

Jerry Bruckheimer films appeal to the most juvenile of impulses in moviegoers. Rarely, however, are they actually suited for young audiences. That changes with National Treasure.

The film features a PG rating (for action violence and some scary images) and sheds the crudeness and labored self-importance that weighs down Mr. Bruckheimer's other productions.

Mr. Nicolas Cage, able as always to deliver preposterous lines with absolute conviction, stars as Benjamin Franklin Gates. Gates is the latest in a line of treasure hunters/patriots searching for a vast treasure hidden around the time of the Revolutionary War. The "scholarly community" looks on the Gates family as kooks, but, to the chagrin of his disillusioned father (Jon Voight), Ben believes in his quest.

The groan-inducing moments come early and often. We first meet the adult Gates searching in the arctic wilderness for a sunken ship, The Charlotte. Within the space of about five minutes of screen time, and, as suggested by the film's editing, only about 10 minutes of real time, Gates and co. find the ship, free it from the ice, find the one important clue within a barrel, discover how to use the clue, and then use the clue's obtuse riddle to determine that a treasure map is on the back of the Declaration of Independence. Oh, then there's a double-cross and the ship explodes in a ball of fire.

So goes the rest of the film. Don't expect National Treasure to make sense, in terms of history, physics, or internal logic. But the central premise, that our nation's historic sites and artifacts hold clues to the location of the world's largest treasure trove, holds a certain guilty-pleasure appeal.