National
Treasure By Sean Chavel
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Diane Kruger, Sean Bean, Justin Bartha,
Jon Voight
There is neither a single moment in National Treasure that feels
plausible nor a sequence that doesn't require suspension of
disbelief, but that doesn't stop it from being enjoyably silly
- for at least a while. The preposterous fantasy at the core
of the movie has treasure hunter Benjamin Gates (Nicolas Cage)
on a mission to steal the Declaration of Independence from the
national archives in Washington D.C. before a bunch of no-good
crooks get to it. Encoded on the back of the document is a map
that supposedly leads to the lost treasure of the Round Table
Knights. As predictable as it is, being a Jerry Bruckheimer
production, the film is exhausted by too many chases.
If Bruckheimer's nadir, or career low, is the exhausting Beverly
Hills Cop II, then some of his bright spots as Hollywood's leading
action-junk producer have to be the collaborations with Cage:
The Rock and Con Air (this guilty pleasure about convicts on
a high-jacked plane is more enjoyable for its macho-posturing
laughs than for its barrage of action). The Rock had a punch
of visceral intensity (while Gone in 60 Seconds, well, didn't).
National Treasure, the fourth Bruckheimer-Cage pairing, is movie
junk food as well, but it's digestible. The movie is equivalent
to harmless snack food, yet as you chew away at it, you realize
that it might be missing a few key ingredients.
Sean Bean, the actor who plays Cage's greedy adversary, is not
as captivating as Ed Harris's character in The Rock or as mean
as any of the psychotics in Con Air. His face is a constant
scowl that you can see right through, and he makes petty threats
that don't amount to much. He is always one step behind Cage
and is basically ineffectual in his quest for lost treasure
without the help of Cage's scholarly wisdom. From an economic
standpoint, Bean's relentless quest seems like a waste of time,
considering that even if he did get his hands on the richest
treasure in the world, every gangster, crook and detective would
be after him. If he's so good at grand theft, it would seem
much more lucrative to rob banks instead of robbing the Capital.
What sensible crook would want the C.I.A. and F.B.I. on their
ass?
The bad guys have underwritten parts; they're basically plug-ins
for conflict in the screenplay. And that would be all right
if the evil bad guy force did something evil enough to plunge
Cage and the good guys into terrible danger. However, the action
sequences are, for the most part, pedestrian compared to other
Bruckheimer thrill rides like The Rock. Such stand-out sequences
in The Rock included the Corvette-trolley car chase, the runaway
missiles of mass destruction thundering over San Francisco bay
and the hypodermic needle jutting out of Cage's chest. All National
Treasure really has in the thrill department, aside from the
high-stakes theft, is a bunch of chases on foot, a typical van
chase at night and a hazardous trip down on a rotted wood cellar
that breaks on cue.
The movie has enough time for Cage to escape underwater in the
dirty-green Hudson river, enough time for him to reacquaint
himself with his dad (played by Jon Voight, who seems like he'll
take on just about any role these days), and enough time for
Cage to develop a relationship with an archives conservator
played by Diane Kruger (you might have seen her and instantly
forgotten her as Orlando Bloom's idol of worship in Troy). The
cutesy, should we trust each other/should we not trust each
other banter between Cage and Kruger is tiresome until the screenplay
lets up and allows them to cordially work together. Cage's sidekick
is a whiz kid played by Justin Bartha, and he's not really a
whiz at anything, at least to the discerning viewer, except
that he allows Cage to have the obligatory friend-come-disciple.
Harvey Keitel walks into this picture with typical "Wolf"-like
authority (he cleans up the mess in Washington like his character
cleaned up the blood-soaked vehicle in Pulp Fiction with smooth
command). Ultimately, National Treasure scoots around from small
thrill to quick-fleeting character revelation with enough energy
and gusto to keep it from being dull, but Bruckheimer doesn't
really blow us away - at least not until the end when it borrows
from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Sure, it's borrowing from a classic,
but it still gives the audience what it's been missing up until
then - dramatic pay-off and a visual sense of awe.
The frenetic cutting, souped-up sound effects and gassy-telescopic
photography are all but the principal formula for Bruckheimer
productions. His hired hand, director Jon Turteltaub, uses these
filmmaking gimmicks with technical efficiency, and he has a
decent rhythm with individual sequences. But the gimmicks are
relied on too heavily. An implausible story is an implausible
story - visual gimmicks are used as smoke and mirrors to keep
us distracted from asking questions about the plot gaps and
the choppy narrative. Cage is the biggest asset to this film
and to any Bruckheimer movie in general - he has a hang-loose
sense of humor that gets us chuckling past the implausible. |
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