National Treasure (2004)

A treasure hunter is in hot pursuit of a mythical treasure that has been passed down for centuries, while his employer turned enemy is onto the same path that he's on.

Director:

Jon Turteltaub

Writers:

Jim Kouf (screenplay), Cormac Wibberley (screenplay),

Stars:

Nicolas Cage, Diane Kruger, Justin Bartha

1 win & 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Nicolas Cage	...	Benjamin Franklin Gates
Diane Kruger	...	Abigail Chase
Justin Bartha	...	Riley Poole
Sean Bean	...	Ian Howe
Jon Voight	...	Patrick Gates
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

Storyline

Benjamin Franklin Gates descends from a family of treasure-seekers who've all hunted for the same thing: a war chest hidden by the Founding Fathers after the Revolutionary War. Ben's close to discovering its whereabouts, as is his competition, but the FBI is also hip to the hunt.

---

Plot Keywords:

treasure | clue | fbi | treasure hunter | declaration of independence | 

---

Taglines:

The clues are right in front of your eyes.

---

Genres:

Action | Adventure | Mystery | Thriller

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for action violence and some scary images

Details

Official Sites:

Disney [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

19 November 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

La leyenda del tesoro perdido

Filming Locations:

DAR - Memorial Continental Hall.- 1776 D Street NW, Washington, District of Columbia, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$100,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$1,071,825 (Japan) (18 March 2005)

Gross:

$173,005,002 (USA) (27 May 2005)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Walt Disney Pictures, Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Junction Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

131 min

Sound Mix:

DTS SDDS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The last name on Security Guard Mike's jacket is Hawk.

---

Goofs

In the Charlotte, when Ben smears blood on the pipe stem and rolls the images onto the paper, they are printed in "positive," as if the symbols had been carved as raised bumps on the pipe, like a linoleum or wood cut. It would have been almost impossible for someone to have carved symbols that small on the circumference of such a small pipe stem in this relief style. Besides that, Ben refers to the carving as an "engraving," which is a gouging-in, or intaglio style of carving: a much easier and more common way to have carved something of this sort. The resulting rolled image would have been a solid field background with the symbols showing as dropped out, or clean paper in the field.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
Young Ben Gates: Grandpa!
John Adams Gates: You're not supposed to be up here, looking at that.

---

Crazy Credits

The Jerry Bruckheimer Productions logo sequence blacks out before it finishes running.

---

Connections

Referenced in Saturday Night Live: Taylor Swift (2009)

---

Soundtracks

"Dreaming"
Written by Norbert Pawlicki, Hans Salomon
Courtesy of Associated Production Music LLC

User Reviews

Fairly entertaining

I am NOT, repeat, NOT, a Nicolas Cage fan, mainly because he relies too much on action to carry his films (instead of his acting), but this is a pretty decent flick. There is enough action and suspense to keep the viewer's interest and also to maintain the pace of the film. There's actually not very much actual violence (strange for a Cage film!), but the story is so well-written that even Cage can pull it off without any gore. The basic story has been reviewed several times, but it's the continuation of a 200 year old treasure hunt. Cage must solve riddle after riddle to find the ultimate clue to the treasure's whereabouts. The clue is finally determined to be on the back of the Declaration of Independence. How Cage figures the clue that leads him there is pretty far-fetched but its the key to the story. If you buy into that, the rest of the riddles are acceptable. There's also a double cross plot headed by the great Sean Bean that provides a lot of the action. The lovely Diane Kruger portrays the poor lady who gets caught up in the middle of all this intrigue. Overall, except for the figuring out of the clue found in the ship (the viewer just has to assume that he's that far above the rest of us in intelligence), a pretty exciting film with a little something for everyone.