National Treasure *** (2004, Nicolas Cage, Diane Kruger, Justin Bartha, Sean Bean, Jon Voight, Harvey Keitel, Christopher Plummer) – Classic Movie Review 3826

Director Jon Turteltaub’s family-friendly 2004 Jerry Bruckheimer/Disney epic adventure provides an enormous hit for Nicolas Cage, taking $173,000,000 at the US box office.

Nicolas Cage plays Benjamin Franklin Gates, whose family is hell bent on finding an old war treasure chest, helped by clues on the Declaration of Independence. Gates, his Dad (Jon Voight), a heroine called Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger) and a silly sidekick named Riley Poole (Justin Bartha) have to battle bad guys led by Ian Howe (Sean Bean) to win the day.

The daft plot doesn’t bear much scrutiny, and some of the acting is on the rough-and-ready side. But this amusing, action-packed movie moves along quickly and entertainingly enough to keep the pulses racing.

Also in the cast are Harvey Keitel, Christopher Plummer, David Dayan Fisher, Stewart Finlay-McLennan, Oleg Taktarov, Stephen A Pope, Annie Parisse, Mark Pellegrino, Armando Riesco, Erik King, Don McManus, Ron Canada, Hunter Gomez, Deborah Yates, Arabella Field and Sharon Wilkins.

Nicolas Cage, Diane Kruger, Justin Bartha and Jon Voight returned for Jon Turteltaub’s 2007 sequel, National Treasure: Book of Secrets.

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© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3826

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