Ben Gates (Nicolas Cage) is an adventurer who is searching for a treasure whose clues had been entrusted with Gates family generations ago. The information had been passed down from father (or grandfather) to son, each one taking their post at guarding the secret of the treasure while trying to search for the treasure, themselves. Ben's father, Patrick Gates (John Voight) has given up on the treasure, deciding that the whole thing is a ruse. He has decided that every clue is merely a red herring that leads to yet another clue - an elaborate setup to keep those who are greedy and who seek enough wealth to become a tyrant busy.
This doesn't leave Ben Gates completely alone in his adventures; he has his trusty sidekick, Riley Poole (Justin Bartha), technologist and computer hacker extraordinaire. Still, he needs money to finance his ventures, so he hooks up with Ian Howe (Sean Bean) - an investor who has a vested interest in finding treasure, but also has a shady past - a fact of which Ben wasn't completely aware. So, when the clues lead to a secret "invisible" map on the back of the United States Constitution, Ian is ready to "borrow" it to find the treasure. Ben, on the other hand, refuses to be a party to such a traitorous act. However, knowing that Ian is going to steal it and finding that no one will believe him about the fact that it's going to be stolen, Ben decides that the only way to protect the Declaration of Independence is to steal it, himself. Well, it kinda makes sense... maybe?
At any rate, the heist goes well until Ian shows up, attempting to steal the Declaration, himself. This forces Ben to improvise a bit, and he ends up having to take a curator at the National Archives, Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger), when she refuses to leave the Declaration of Independence in his hands. Once she gets the whole story, she comes to believe Ben and ends up being an invaluable partner.
So, we've got the FBI and a tenacious Agent Sadusky (Harvey Keitel) trying to catch Ben and company, Ian trying to catch Ben and company, Ben and Ian racing to find the treasure... and Ben has to find the treasure to prove his story was true and that Ian Howe was the bad guy. Contrived? Possibly, but once the scenario is set up, the action that plays out as a result seems to make sense enough, given a reasonable suspension of disbelief. It's a fun time, with enough thrills and chills to keep you on edge.
I have to say that I enjoyed National Treasure when I saw it in theaters, but I enjoyed it that much more when I was able to see the special features. The featurettes on Treasure Hunters and The Knights Templar were interesting, and the interactive Riley's Decode This! featurette was nifty, although a little hokey. I also enjoyed the Ciphers, Codes and Codebreakers featurette, with its history of encoding messages for security and the To Steal A National Treasure featurette, showing how the security of documents such as the Declaration of Independence has been upgraded since September 11th. Also, the more special features you watch, the more are unlocked, which is part of what makes this edition the Collector's Edition.
If you're into the archaeological adventure / caper movies in the vein of Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider, National Treasure won't disappoint.
