National Treasure Book of Secrets is a mystery adventure film by Jon Turteltaub. It is filled with many puzzle and action suspense scenes that get you very interested in the film. It is all about working through the puzzle of clues to find the hidden treasure (the city of gold). Even though you know they are going to find the treasure at the end (otherwise it wouldn’t be a good movie and wouldn’t have a point) you still don’t see many things coming that lead up to them finding the treasure. Even after they find the treasure you still have no clue what’s going to happen to them. Will they be arrested or caught by the bad guys or neither? This movie will get your blood pumping at some parts because of the excitement of what’s going to happen or what could happen next. This excitement lasts for about the whole movie because there is never really a dull moment where things aren’t tense and suspenseful.
National Treasure is about Ben Gates (Nicholas Cage) and his friends and family in search for a hidden treasure that is supposed to clear his family name. They have to go through many different obstacles and bad guys that are dangerous and illegal to find the clues they need to find the treasure.
In this movie, they make a lot of bad decisions. They do this for the sole purpose of finding the next clue and figuring them out to find the treasure. From stealing ancient artifacts to breaking in places to kid napping the president, they will really do whatever it takes to find the hidden treasure. Even though they know they could be arrested for over half the stuff they do, they go for it and do it anyway because they know if they find the treasure it will change history, and clear their family name.
Nicholas Cage is the main character in National Treasure. Left Behind, The Knowing and Ghost Rider are some films he’s starred in that are similar to National Treasure. In each one of these films his characters roles are all very alike. Most of all the films he has been in are some sort of sci-fi mystery thriller themed movie. He doesn’t usually do any other type of acting part. Nicholas being the main character in all of these mystery related films, shows that he was the right pick to do Ben Gates in National Treasure. Justin Bartha (Riley Poole) plays Ben’s best friend. Riley’s character is smart but has his blonde moments and can be sarcastic and goofy at times. Justin Bartha was in The Hangover (a comedy movie) as Douglas. His part is a smart man that has a little too much fun with his not so smart friends. Justin did a very good job in playing a part in such a funny movie to playing a sarcastic funnier character in National Treasure. Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger) plays Ben’s wife. Her character is very smart and isn’t exactly the joking type. Her character is always very serious and wants things always done her way. Diane Kruger did a very good job at executing the part of Abigail Chase. All the actors and actresses for this film fit their parts pretty perfectly and couldn’t be done much better by anyone else.
National Treasure uses real historic events, buildings and artifacts for the main plot of the movie. It is based off things that happened right after the Civil War that relate to the present time in the movie. The movie starts 5 days after the Civil War ended, in a local bar where Thomas Gates (Ben Gate’s great grandfather) has a run in with John Wilkes Booth and Michael O’Laughlen (Lincoln’s assassin and partner) right before Booth shot Lincoln. This relates to the present time in the film and as to why Ben goes searching for the treasure.
Personally, National Treasure is one of my favorite movies because of mystery plot using clue after clue to find a hidden treasure. I love the way it pulls you in and really gets you interested in the movie. They did a very good job not making things predictable, even though you know they will find the treasure at the end you never know what will happen to them next or what risks they will take to find the treasure. It is really cool how they used real historic events and artifacts within the movie to make it feel realistic. (like how there were clues on the artifacts and how there was a hidden treasure in Mount Rushmore). Nicholas being the main character was the best choice they could have made for his part in the film because of how many other films he’s starred in that have a similar feel to National Treasure.
