Movie Review: National
Treasure
By Deanna De La Cruz
Benjamin Franklin Gates,
played by Nicolas Cage, is on a quest to find a treasure worth
billions that was hidden by the Founding Fathers. Armed with a
clue and the knowledge of the legend of the treasure, Benjamin
embarks on an adventure of a lifetime.
Benjamin not only has the difficult task of deciphering what the
cryptic clues mean, but is also betrayed by his benefactor, played
by Sean Bean. After finding a critical clue, Benjamin’s
benefactor believed that Benjamin’s service was no longer
needed, and attempted to murder Ben and his friend by trapping
them in a ship as it was about to explode. Believing that Benjamin
and his friend perished in the explosion, the benefactor and his
team continue their quest for the treasure.
Though Ben was betrayed and left to die, he was not discouraged
from finding the treasure. Ben and his friend continued on and
devised the next step to retrieve the next clue, which was written
on the back of the Declaration of Independence to ensure the clue’s
safety.
Benjamin first attempts to secure the safety of the Declaration
of Independence by telling the museum curators that the benefactor
and his team would attempt to steal it. Each time he and his friend
were laughed at because no one believed that it was possible for
the Declaration of Independence to be stolen. After being laughed
at for the last time, Benjamin resolved that he must steal the
Declaration of Independence to secure its safety.
Through a series of ironic events and close calls, Benjamin Gates
steals the Declaration of Independence and teams up with the obsessed
history buff and curator Abigail Chase, played by Diane Kruger,
who is determined to protect the document as well as help find
the treasure.
National Treasure is a very exciting movie that keeps the audience
busy trying to guess where the next clue leads as well as whether
or not they will be successful in evading the bad guys. The movie
was also very interesting because it contained numerous little
clues in our history’s past as well as the small eccentricities
found in history as well as a hundred dollar bill. National Treasure
is a movie that is quite like Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider, so
if you enjoy watching those movies, you’ll love National
Treasure!
