Review: National Treasure

I wrote this review before seeing my first Mythbusters, so it really was the first time I saw a TASER.

National Treasure

PG for action violence and old skeletons. Possibly one swear word.

You’ve heard the premise: Ben Gates (Nicolas Cage) must steal the Declaration of Independence so it doesn’t get stolen. Supposedly on the back is a map which will lead to an unimaginable treasure.

Had Disney decided to go with an R rating, Treasure would have proved more compelling, but the fun would have shrunken immensely, so I give kudos to Disney. (Did I really say that?)

I actually enjoyed Treasure more in the second viewing. Justin Bartha performs Riley to perfection. He is the kid, the comic relief, the geek, the technician. And his displays of emotion are indeed winsome.

Boromir, I mean Sean Bean, is the bad guy: same accent, slightly cleaner hair. If you ever wondered what TASERs look like, you get to see them in action. I’ve never really seen thugs with Scottish accents. Sorta like British hip hop: it’s out there but it can catch you by surprise.

The masonic stuff proves hokey, more the vehicle for the story than promoting the religion. Even so, it might draw some interested parties into studying freemasonry further. This is a good point for discussion. Also, there are trace inaccuracies such as what they call a replica of Solomon’s temple. See if you can find it.

There is a lot of “cool” in this movie, TASER use, invisible ink, optics, fingerprint transferral and biometrics that don’t involve cutting off or gouging out body parts. (A word to the wise: NEVER EVER let them use your retinal scan as a form of identification. NEVER EVER.)

National Treasure is fun, a buddy/sidekick and guy-gets-the-girl-after-multitudinous-perilous-situations kind of movie. It is fairly safe for teens to watch without causing hormonal overdrive.

CFI: 8.

Questions for Discussion:

What is freemasonry? 

How important, really, is a piece of paper?

Talk about living a passionate life, about goals and what price one is willing to pay to achieve one’s dreams.

How far should loyalty between friends go? When is it okay to bail out?

Talk about betrayal and money.