‘National Treasure’ not much of a thrill

Evan Marmol

“National Treasure” hails as the thrill ride of the season, full of

treasure and intrigue. Unfortunately, though, this film has as much

treasure as Enron, and the Enron scandal was far more entertaining.

The absolutely contrived, and convoluted script entails decrypting

a 200-year-old message ensconced on the reverse of the Declaration of

Independence. This code ostensibly leads to the spoils of centuries

of wars, strife and genocide. In this light, discovering the treasure

should be an ignominious task, but the film unabashedly overlooks

this disturbing fact. I suppose it was easy to overlook this when

they were far more focused on overlooking such factors as narrative,

character development and historical fact.

In the treasure hunt, two rival groups compete for the heist of

the century, stealing the Declaration of Independence. Nicolas Cage

leads one coterie comprised of a willowy blond and a neurotic geek;

the other group is conveniently comprised of random criminals of east

European origin.

As if this plot is not totally threadbare, they throw in Jon

Voight as Cage’s dotard father that has been unsuccessfully searching

for the treasure for his entire life. Can anyone scream, “Indiana

Jones and the Last Crusade”? At times the scripts were offensively

paralleled.

There were a few saving graces. Cage’s signature sardonic wit and

wry style are always a delight. And if you refuse to utilize all of

your necessary brain cells, then you might just love it. If I had the

choice, I would have waited until it was on cable.

* EVAN MARMOL is Laguna Beach resident. He graduated from UC

Irvine with a degree in psychology and social behavior. He can be

reached at [email protected].