Britt Gillette asked:
One of the surprise blockbusters of 2004, National Treasure evokes images of the Indiana Jones trilogy with its adventurous search for a mysterious hidden treasure. But more than likely, the film is the result of the massive commercial success of a “quest for the holy grail” novel entitled The Da Vinci Code. Since its release, Dan Brown’s book has sold over twenty million copies, and its plot of a historian turned treasure hunter who uncovers ancient clues put in place by the Knights Templar and the Masons that hold the key to a treasure of unimaginable consequences from the era of the Crusades while doing so with the aid of a beautiful woman curator of the very archive which holds the crucial clues to its discovery, all while an evil competitor who seeks the treasure for himself follows on his heels – whew! is a plot device that’s eerily similar to Dan Brown’s bestseller. But National Treasure takes place in the United States instead of Europe, so you can rest assured that the book’s success had nothing to do with the movie’s production (wink, wink)… Anyway, regardless of its origin, National Treasure is an entertaining adventure more than worthy of a movie-goer’s time…
National Treasure follows the exploits of Benjamin “Ben” Franklin Gates (Nicolas Cage), the youngest in a long line of historians who believe that America’s Founding Fathers were the guardians of a massive treasure dating back to the era of the Crusades. Despite his father Patrick’s (Jon Voight) pessimism, Ben investigates a clue provided by his grandfather John Adams Gates (Christopher Plummer) – a clue handed down by their distant relative Charles Carroll, one of the last surviving signatories of the Declaration of Independence. Working with his employer Ian Howe (Sean Bean), Ben unlocks the mystery of the clue which leads to his belief that a treasure map is encoded in invisible on the backside of the Declaration of Independence…
When Ian hatches a scheme to rob the National Archives of its most treasured artifact, Ben promptly alerts the FBI. But the feds’ failure to take his claim seriously prompts Ben to devise his own plan to steal the parchment (so he can protect its secrets from Ian). Along the way, Ben convinces National Archives curator Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger) of the conspiracy, and she agrees to help him steal the Declaration of Independence. With each new success, Ben and Abigail are brought closer to the ultimate discovery. But Ian Howe and the FBI are always one step behind, and multiple dangerous obstacles remain in their way… Does a vast treasure of wealth hidden by the Founding Fathers really exist? And will Ben and Abigail find it before it falls into the wrong hands? Just as with Harry Potter and Indiana Jones, all the fun is in waiting to find out…
National Treasure marks the second mass-audience commercial success of 2004 for Walt Disney Pictures (The Incredibles being the other), and Disney teams up once again with Jerry Bruckheimer Films (with whom it worked on The Pirates Of The Caribbean) to pull off the feat. Director Jon Turteltaub (While You Were Sleeping) manages to provide a modicum of realism to a film that asks it audience time and again to ignore common sense. Sporting a screenplay that offers its hero a series of absurdly difficult clues which he solves with relative ease, National Treasure presents a comic book edifice that borders on the juvenile. But the film is saved by the fact that it doesn’t come across in an overtly serious light, but rather as a fun and entertaining night at the movies that even offers a bit of comic relief. As such, National Treasure is a definite must-see film. Because if it’s anything, it’s loads of fun…
Jack Deal asked:
When I was a teenager, I thought that adventure was going to places like Fez, Chiapas or Vancouver Island. Well, I went to those places and had adventure but over the years I learned that going thousands of miles from home to a completely alien culture and language is not the only route to adventure.
Before I was 20 I was a veteran world traveler that pushed the limits of adventure and was ready for more. But it occurred to me even back then there was a fly in this ointment. It had to do with anecdotal evidence or what I observed in the ‘real’ world. Adventure wasn’t as simple as buying a ticket and going somewhere.
Many people I met would go to exotic places and not be effected at all. Part of this was their means of travel and accommodations and another part their mindset. It goes something like this: ‘by golly we are going to see and do but let’s not let down our hair lest we interact in ways that are not culturally comfortable for us.’ Summary: we gonna travel but we ain’t gonna experience.
Consequently I met world travelers that were no more world wise than my neighbor across the street that never leaves the county.
But, hey, don’t be surprised if you find out you started a tad late. 20 years after I took those youthful trips I took another trip. The wife and son spent the summer down at the farm in Veracruz but I had to stay in California to work. During that span I took off ten days to drive up to Canada. It was the first trip I had taken by myself in 20 years.
But it wasn’t the same. I never hitchhiked. I had a car and not a motorcycle. I had a credit card and not just some tightly budgeted cash. I stayed in a hotel and did not once sleep on the ground or beach or someone’s kitchen floor. I even came back before my 10 days was up. On every other trip I had ever taken I was always late getting back home. The reality was I just wasn’t the same person I was 20 years before.
If you are young, do your adventuring as soon as you can. Don’t listen to those that say all you should be doing is studying and working. There will be plenty of time for that but adventure is a fragile thing and not something you can postpone forever. Over time it can be lost.
In fact if you are lucky like I was you will meet people that will tell you how much they regret not adventuring more when they were young. Now, many middle aged men my age have become obsessed with trying to find adventure before they die. They went from college to corporation and finally in their late fifties and early sixties can adventure and do what they want. Good luck. If they had done their adventuring when they were younger they wouldn’t be so ornery and stubborn and angry and frustrated. Tough attitude to start out with on an adventure…
But I also met folks that were having fantastic adventures while never leaving their communities. So much for adventure being only found in exotic places. I met many different types of people for whom each day was an adventure. If their day was anything but adventurous, they made it adventurous. They could have boring jobs and live in boring communities and have boring families but they were always so excited about life and adventure that they could hardly stand it.
What they do is create and customize their own adventure and become engaged by it. For them every minute is sheer joy at celebrating being alive. They are too busy being grateful to complain. They are too busy being humbled to be presumptuous. They understand that the greatest gift a human can extend is friendship and the here and now is nature’s greatest gift. What me worry?
I came to understand being engaged one hot Moroccan night in Rabat as I lay awake drenched in sweat on my hotel bed. I had been to the interior and gotten a most nasty case of amoebic dysentery; diarrhea, fevers, shakes and all.
I did not worry that I was a teenager with little money and very sick in a strange country so very far from home. In fact I did not worry at all. I knew I would be fine. I would survive this ordeal and anything else in the future.
And I did. I continued a life of one adventure after another. I had arrived. I was engaged.
