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# No gold, jewels found in ‘National Treasure’
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/no-gold-jewels-found-in-national-treasure/
- Published: 2004-11-19T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T05:37:40.000Z
- Author: Dan Dunn
- Tags: local, Santa Monica, #archive-import

Despite a promising high concept, the best that can be said about “National Treasure” is that it could have been worse. For evidence, look no further than Nicolas Cage’s previous ill-advised collaborations with ubiquitous producer Jerry Bruckheimer — (in descending order of dreadful) “The Rock,” “Con Air” and “Gone in 60 Seconds.” On second thought, there’s no point in revisiting that troika.

As is almost always the case with Bruckheimer’s behemothly budgeted spectacles, this sprawling treasure hunt is cacophonous, eye-popping and unabashedly devoid of nuance. When they’re not circling the globe in expensive vehicles or dodging bullets and explosions, cookie-cutter characters such as Cage’s Benjamin Franklin Gates communicate almost exclusively in action-flick hokum. And what Gates is saying is that written in invisible ink on the back of the Declaration of Independence is a map that leads to the fabled Knights Templar treasure, rumored to be the most valuable bounty of all time.

And no, you’re not alone in thinking that sounds daffy. In fact, generations of Gates men have been roundly ridiculed for believing such a fortune exists — a bit of family history that director Jon Turteltaub uses at the outset to pit Gates against his pop, Patrick (Jon Voight), a treasure hunter who’s hung up his headlamp after years of fruitless searches and heartbreak.

Having established at least a modicum of internal conflict for the hero, Turteltaub trots out the staples of the genre: The fashionably sinister bad guy with the foreign accent (Sean Bean), the techno-geek/perpetual punchline (Justin Bartha) and the eye-candy (German beauty Diane Kruger). Of the three, Bartha fares best, saving a little face after his career-torpedoing turn as the touched kid in “Gigli.” There are some funny moments in “National Treasure,” and all of them involve Bartha’s Riley. Kruger, on the other hand, at times seems to be reading off cue cards, and she’s far too young to be believed as the conservator of the National Archives. This frivolous fluff certainly didn’t challenge Cage, but he does manage to instill Gates with humanity not often discernible in Bruckheimer’s heroes. Gates the gold-digger has got soul, even though the material he’s mining doesn’t. (Rated PG for action violence and some scary images. Running time: 100 minutes)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 19, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/111904.pdf?ref=smdp.com)