2 out of 5 stars

A few years ago, when Dan Brown’s novel ‘The Da Vinci Code’ started its reign of terror atop The New York Times bestseller list, Hollywood quickly scrambled to adapt the movie to a screenplay.

Ron Howard won the bidding war for ‘The Da Vinci Code,’ leaving Jerry Bruckheimer with little choice but to fall back on ‘National Treasure,’ an eerily similar script to the one Howard would produce. Then, when Howard booked Tom Hanks as his lead, Bruckheimer was forced to rely on Nicholas Cage, with whom he worked on the set of ‘The Rock.’

But those were the breaks, and Bruckheimer, who has made a name for himself producing such high-grossing blockbusters as ‘Pirates of the Caribbean,’ ‘Armageddon’ and ‘Top Gun,’ had to run with them.

Unfortunately, he was running with scissors. There are just too many problems in the film.

The script just doesn’t translate well to the screen. While the character of Riley (Justin Bartha) does provide some nice one-liners along the course of the film with his biting sarcasm, most of the intended comic relief falls flat on its face. And the contrived passion between Cage’s Benjamin Franklin Gates and love interest Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger), who helps Gates along his efforts, has little to no spark, let alone steam.

Anyone who has read ‘The Da Vinci Code’ will immediately notice the attempted efforts in ‘National Treasure’ to make the two seem similar. Both follow the fellowship of the Knights Templar, but while ‘Da Vinci’ focused on art, the Crusades, the Vatican and European dignitaries, ‘National Treasure’ focuses on artifacts, the Revolutionary War, the American government and our nation’s forefathers. While the leaps made throughout the course of ‘Da Vinci’ were acceptable because the characters often mulled over clues in their hunt, Gates and his crew know the answers all too quickly. This kills any intended drama in these scenes, and throughout the course of the movie, most of the viewer interest.

History buffs will certainly appreciate the name-dropping throughout the film. But then again, with a runtime of 130 minutes, they might be missing out on some by choosing to see this film.

Published on November 18, 2004 at 12:00 pm