National Treasure has a map on the back of the Declaration of Independence, a pipe pulled from an Arctic wreck, and a villain who wants to steal America’s founding document with a crowbar. It has Nicolas Cage. It runs 131 minutes. It is never once as fun as any of that sounds.
Trailer, via Disney UK.
Nicolas Cage and the Charlotte Expedition
Jon Turteltaub directs from a script by Jim Kouf and the Wibberleys. Ben Gates, played by Cage, is a historian and cryptographer chasing a Freemason fortune his family has hunted for generations. His grandfather John Adams Gates, played by Christopher Plummer, hands him the obsession in 1974. Charles Carroll hands the clue to an ancestor in 1832: “the secret lies with Charlotte.”
Thirty years on, Ben and computer expert Riley Poole, played by Justin Bartha, find the Charlotte in the Arctic. Inside is a meerschaum pipe. Its engravings point to the map on the Declaration.
Ian Howe Turns Crime Boss
The expedition is bankrolled by Sean Bean’s Ian Howe. When Ian suggests stealing the Declaration, the group splits. Ben and Riley take the plan to the FBI and to Dr. Abigail Chase at the National Archives. Nobody believes them.
So Ben steals it himself, lifting Abigail’s fingerprints to get into the preservation room during a gala. He gets the document. Then a gift shop cashier mistakes it for a souvenir copy and makes him pay for it.
The Cast, Assembled
The film’s pieces are all in place, and none of them mesh:
- Nicolas Cage as Ben Gates, the true believer
- Diane Kruger as Dr. Abigail Chase, the archivist who joins him
- Justin Bartha as Riley Poole, the sardonic computer expert
- Sean Bean as Ian Howe, the former friend turned crime boss
- Jon Voight as Patrick Gates, the skeptical father
- Harvey Keitel as Agent Peter Sadusky, FBI
A Franchise Running Order
| Year | Release |
|---|---|
| 2004 | National Treasure |
| 2007 | National Treasure: Book of Secrets |
| 2022 | National Treasure: Edge of History (Disney+) |
A Heist That Never Cuts
The theft should be the film’s engine. Instead it plays as a long, airless errand. Ben acquires the Declaration, gets spotted by Ian’s crew, loses Abigail to a kidnapping, then rescues her by leaving a souvenir copy behind. Each beat arrives without pressure.
What $347 Million Buys
The film grossed $347 million worldwide and drew mixed reviews. That number explains the sequels. It does not explain the movie. National Treasure treats the Declaration of Independence as a prop and the Freemasons as a puzzle box, then solves the puzzle with a pipe and a gift shop receipt.
Cage plays Ben straight, which strands him. Bean has nothing to do but glower. Kruger and Bartha are given one note each and hold it for two hours. The tagline promises a man who breaks all the rules. He mostly breaks into one room.
The 2004 heist film has a real idea buried in it: that the country’s founding documents are a code, and that believing in them is a kind of lunacy. National Treasure never commits to that idea. It commits to the chase, and the chase is dull.
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