Review – National Treasure

For a cheap (well okay, medium budget) knock-off of The DaVinci Code, this could have been a lot worse. Nicolas Cage was an odd pick for the role of treasure-hunting antiquities expert; he plays it a lot like his role in The Rock, and here it doesn’t work. I also think the writers could have worked a little harder to come up with some better twists or at least more obvious character motivations. But overall I had more fun with this than I did with the Dan Brown novel from which it’s pretty clearly stealing some thunder. Here some folks are making what everyone can clearly recognize as a silly caper movie about a vast trove of treasure, which for my taste is at least a step or two above doing the same thing with an important element of an important religion. Added surprise bonus: at least some elements are actually more historically accurate than Brown. Mildly amusing