Now Just Where Did Those Masons Put That Money?

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun
NY Sun
NEW YORK SUN CONTRIBUTOR

Jerry Bruckheimer’s newest family friendly action romp, “National Treasure,” is a gilded treat, the equivalent of chocolate gold coins. It’s hardly the high-end Bruckheimer booty that “Pirates of the Caribbean” – a surprise hit, but a deserving one – was. But it might satisfy fans anxiously awaiting “The Da Vinci Code’s” big screen de but. And it will keep the attention of cynical tweens, and make parents feel that they’d played a hand in making history fun. Even if none of it is true.


Like the mega-best-seller “Da Vinci Code,” “National Treasure” tosses history and conspiracy theories like a salad in order to tell an adventure story with a sheen of authenticity. The hallmarks of this newish genre (you can count the Indiana Jones films as prototypes) are long bouts of fact-filled exposition, followed by action sequences that serve as plot points. The effect is such that the lengthy explanations seem good for you, like spinach, while the cheesy action serves as desert.


Nicolas Cage, who’d seemed to exorcise terrible films like “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin” and “The Family Man” with star turns in “Adaptation” and “Matchstick Men,” stars as Benjamin Franklin Gates, the last in a line of treasure hunters. As the movie begins, we’re told a story by Gates’s grandfather (played by Christopher Plummer, the first of the three veteran actors who look like they’re here just to pick up paychecks). It’s a tale about an incredible treasure that passed down through the hands of the rulers of antiquity, then to the Knights Templar, and finally into the care of the Stone Masons – and thus the Founding Fathers.


Apparently (according to the movie at least) the Founders built this country to hide piles and piles of gold – a treasure so great, it seems, it had to be protected from the British. But they left clues as to the whereabouts of this treasure. The clues, which Gates has spent his life following, are hidden amongst the great artifacts of American history. After a falling-out between Cage’s character and his criminal financier, Sean Bean – a falling out that includes the movie’s only gratuitous explosion – the pair race to uncover the mother of all clues: an invisible treasure map on the back of the Declaration of Independence.


Their dueling break-in to the Fort Knox-like National Archive and heist of the hallowed scroll are the most exciting parts of the movie – even if they do make busting into a Federal Building seem far from wildly difficult. Thankfully, the good guys also heist spunky Diane Kruger, as director of the archives and scrappy romantic interest. What ensues is a mouse hunt that takes our heroes on an exotic journey from Washington D.C. to Philadelphia, to New York – a sort of greatest-hits travelogue of important historical locations, climaxing in an awkward tribute to the movie “Goonies.”


Along the way, a stoned-looking Harvey Keitel shows up as a cop (surprise!), as well as a crotchety, and very funny John Voight as Gates’s father. Mr. Cage’s partner in crime, Justin Bartha, supplies an improbable ability to hack into anything, anywhere, and also to throw out sarcastic bon mots when the script proves ponderous. Mr. Cage is Nicholas Cage, all bug-eyes, bad hair, and earnest surfer drawl.


Mostly, “National Treasure” is a harmless diversion, a pirate’s chest of cartoon violence, Halloween cobwebs, and a civics lesson: We won our independence by doing the wrong thing for the right reason. Which is not that far off from making a bad movie for good reasons.

NY Sun
NEW YORK SUN CONTRIBUTOR

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.


The New York Sun

© 2025 The New York Sun Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The material on this site is protected by copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used.

The New York Sun

Sign in or  Create a free account

or
By continuing you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use