Guest Blogger: Dylan 2

Nicholas Cage stars in this 2004 movie about American history and treasure hunting. Cage, who plays Benjamin Franklin Gates, grew up in a household full of treasure hunters. Ben was about eight years old at the start of the movie, and the scene showed a young Ben looking through some old books. Then Ben’s grandfather came in and told Ben the story of the Knights Templar Treasure, a story that would’ve interested any young kid. Then the movie fast-forwards 20 years or so to a frozen wasteland. Ben and his “crew” are searching for the first of many clues that will hopefully lead them to the treasure. The group finds what they were looking for: an old American Revolution-era ship. They search the ship, and find an old frozen skeleton holding a keg full of gunpowder. In the gunpowder is an ivory pipe, which signifies that the treasure is real. Unfortunately for Ben, some of the group members got greedy and decided they wanted the clue for themselves. Keeping Ben, Riley, and Abigail (the other two main characters) at gun-point, the thieves fled the ship, lighting it on fire in the hopes of escaping. The thieves then made their escape, while the ship containing the other three group members proceeded to explode. The three survived, and from then on, they faced a never-ending quest to catch the thieves and regain the clue to the puzzle. They eventually catch up to the thieves, but then are essentially kidnapped and held prisoner, forced to continue the adventure in search of the treasure. Nicholas Cage does an excellent job acting throughout the movie. Justin Bartha and Diane Kruger do as well, playing Riley Poole and Abigail Chase well, respectively. Unfortunately, Stephen Holden bashed the three in his New York Times article, saying that “Accompanying Ben are his techie sidekick Riley, whose fizzled wisecracks add up to the year’s lamest movie dialogue, and Abigail Chase, a blonde, motor-mouthed National Archives conservator.” I’d have to disagree with him, as Riley had some very comical moments throughout the movie. The main theme from National Treasure is that life may always hit you when you’re down, but if you keep at it, you’ll achieve your goals eventually. All in all, National Treasure is an eight out of ten movie, and I’d recommend seeing it if you enjoy history, adventure, and most of all, treasure!