National Treasure

2004
PG
2h 11m

IMDb RATING

6.9/10

363K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

Play trailer2:32

Quest Action Adventure Mystery Thriller

A historian races to find the legendary Templar Treasure before a team of mercenaries.A historian races to find the legendary Templar Treasure before a team of mercenaries.A historian races to find the legendary Templar Treasure before a team of mercenaries.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.9/10

363K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

614

367

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 win & 9 nominations

Trivia
When Ben and Riley are talking on the steps in front of the Lincoln Memorial, the water in the reflecting pool was digitally added later. The pool had been drained for maintenance at the time of filming.

Goofs
It is said the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4th, 1776, when in fact, it was only adopted on that day. It was not actually engrossed on parchment, and signed until August 2nd, 1776. The copy that was signed on July 4th was a "rough journal" as it was called, and then only signed by John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress and Charles Thomson, the Secretary.

Quotes
Ben Gates: [after he and Riley rescued Abigail from Ian's truck] You all right?
Abigail Chase: No, those - those lunatics...
Ben Gates: You're not hurt, are you?
Abigail Chase: YOU'RE ALL LUNATICS!
Ben Gates: You hungry?
Abigail Chase: What?
Ben Gates: Are you all right?
Riley Poole: Still a little on-edge from being shot at but I'll be okay, thanks for asking.
Abigail Chase: Yeah, well I'm not all right! Those men have the Declaration of Independence!
Riley Poole: SHE LOST IT?
Ben Gates: They don't have it.
[He pulls the Declaration out to show her]
Ben Gates: See? Okay? Now could you please stop shouting?
Abigail Chase: [She reaches for it, but he pulls it away] Give me that!
Ben Gates: You're still shouting, and it's really starting to annoy. You would do well, Dr. Chase, to be a little more civilized in this instance.
Abigail Chase: If this is the real one, what did they get?
Ben Gates: A souvenir. I thought it'd be a good idea to have a duplicate, turns out I was right. I actually had to pay for the souvenir and the real one, so you owe me $35, plus tax.
Riley Poole: Genius.
Abigail Chase: Who were those men?
Ben Gates: Just the guys we warned you were going to try to steal the Declaration.
Riley Poole: And you didn't believe us!
Ben Gates: We did the only thing we could do to keep it safe.
Abigail Chase: Verdammt! Give me that!
Ben Gates: You know something? You're shouting again.
Riley Poole: Pretty sure she was swearing too.
Ben Gates: Well, we probably deserved that.

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

Connections
Edited into The Arrivals (2008)

Soundtracks
String Quartet Op. 33 No. 2 in E Flat ('The Joke')
Written by Joseph Haydn (as Franz Joseph Haydn)
Performed by The Lindsays
Courtesy of Sanctuary Records Group Ltd.

User reviews808

Review

Featured review

7/10

fun adventure

This was a fun film, sort of like an Indian Jones movie, but the treasure hunter must figure out clues. I'm sure the reason this was made and released now has a lot to do with the Da Vinci Code. The plot is just like it except instead of involving religious history, the clues center around American history, and namely the founding fathers.

So Nick Cage, plays Ben Gates, the treasure hunter whose family has been looking for the treasure of the knights templer for years. One of his relatives possessed the last remaining clue from a dying Mason. So, the movie starts with Cage finally solving that clue, and the film goes from there. Of course, we have the evil billionaire guy who wants the treasure for himself and the funny sidekick. But, I think the sidekick failed because he wasn't all that funny. The movie could have used some more humor. And of course, Gates hooks up with a beautiful woman along the way to help him solve the clues, which sounds just like Da Vinci.

It is unbelievable that someone could just come up with the answer to these difficult clues after thinking about them for 2 minutes, but we don't have time to let the characters ponder them for a few months. It is meant to be fun, so forget about the plot holes. The whole set beneath the church looked very neat, but I would have to think all those wooden stairs would have been rotten by then and no one could walk on them. But who cares, it's fun.

And the theft of the Declaration of Independence was reminiscent of Ocean's 11. Funny how anyone can steal anything in a film, forget locked down security.

FINAL VERDICT: If you like adventure films, I recommend it. It is not like Tomb Raider, which some have compared it to. Tomb Raider was horrible. This is more like Indiana Jones.