There's such a thing of suspension of disbelief, which I fully subscribe to as an important part of enjoying films. Then there's absolute destruction of belief, suspension's ugly cousin. Guess which category National Treasure falls into.
For me, this film set a new record for the amount of times I stood up, muttered at the screen "But.... you.... just can't.... do...." and then trailed off shaking my head. Believe it or not, I have no problem, generally speaking, with films that stoop to ridiculous levels to accomplish their plots. Look at something like (I'm just picking these because of the similarities in genre) The Mummy films, or Indiana Jones or Ocean's Eleven. They're doing things than no one would ever be able to do, yet most people don't walk away shaking their head in frustration.
Why is National Treasure any different? For starters, the dialogue makes Freddy vs Jason look like Shakespeare. A typical exchange:
"So, Ben, do you think we're near the treasure that your ancestors were told about and has passed down from generation to generation, and now you are searching for?"
"Yes, I do think we're near that treasure. And I am going tofind it, because I have been searching for two years for it."
"The treasure your ancestors knew about?"
"Yes, that very treasure."
Guys, there's such a thing as subtlety, or letting actions tell the story. That just stuck out as a sore point for me. Then, there are plot holes big enough to house ocean liners. For example, when they find a sunken ship, almost perfectly preserved under the ice for several generations, simply by driving through the Arctic on a modified snowplow. Or better yet, being able to steal the Declaration of Independence because it's being restored and of course, no one thought to guard it. If our genius Indiana Jones-wannabes know this fact, how come no one's concocted this scheme before? And how come it's at this exact same time that the bad guys decide to steal the DOI? ARGH!!!!!
I don't generally mind Nicholas Cage (who plays, sigh, Benjamin Franklin Gates), and I thought he ruled in Adaptation, so I've got to blame the script here. He just should have passed on this one. And his comedic sidekick Justin Bartha (Riley) is trying waaaaaay too hard to be funny. I mean, why does he even search for treasure if he hates it all so much? Again - ARGH!!! Don't even get me started on Diane Kruger (Dr. Chase), who is so generic and bland that you just KNOW she's going to be made into the requisite love interest for No Apparent Reason.
All that said.... once the film gets going and drops some of the beyond-obvious dialogue, I'd say about an hour into it, there are some fun chase scenes, which is all I really wanted from this particular movie. But then it comes to a finish so obvious I'm surprised one of the characters didn't just blurt out what was happening. Oh, wait, they did.
A definite miss. In my opinion, the worst film I've seen this year, save for Envy, but that one charted brave new territory for stupidity.
