Enter your search terms Web curledupdvd Submit search form	NATIONAL TREASURE (TWO-DISC COLLECTOR'S EDITION) Actors: Nicolas Cage, Diane Kruger, Justin Bartha, Sean Bean, Jon Voight, Harvey Keitel Director: Jon Turteltaub   Studio: Walt Disney Video DVD release: 18 December 2007   Runtime: 131 minutes (2 discs) Format: Collector's Edition, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Special Edition, Widescreen, NTSC DVD Features: Subtitles (English, French, Spanish), Audio Tracks (English, French, Spanish - Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround), Multilevel Treasure Hunt, Alternate Ending w/ optional director's commentary, Deleted Scenes w/ optional director's commentary, Opening Scene Animatic w/ optional director's commentary, "National Treasure on Location," "The Knights Templar," "Treasure Hunters Revealed," "Riley's Decode This," National Treasure: Book of Secrets Sneak Peek, Additional Deleted Scenes introduced by director Jon Turteltaub, "Ciphers, Codes and Codebreakers," "On the Set of American History," "To Steal a National Treasure," "Exploding Charlotte" If you find yourself in a movie and look to your right to find Sean Bean, I'd recommend caution. Our tale begins with Benjamin Franklin Gates (Nicolas Cage), Ian Howe (Sean Bean), Riley Poole (Justin Bartha) and some thugs venturing across a frozen tundra to find a ship called The Charlotte. They're looking for a legendary treasure hidden for centuries by the Knights Templar and Freemasons, who apparently had their mitts into everything and still had time to share secret handshakes, get drunk and play foosball down at the lodge. Instead of finding the treasure, they found a clue leading them to believe there's a map on the back of the Declaration of Independence (yes, that Declaration of Independence). Ian has that dangerous glint in his eye that scares Gates. Ian will steal the document, and this rubs Ben the wrong way, being a patriotic historian. Naturally Ben tries to warn the authorities, who think he's a crackpot -and, to tell the truth, he gives them little reason to think he's not. He and Riley are forced to do the honorable thing and steal it themselves, and if they should drizzle lemon juice on the back of it in the meantime and find the treasure, so much the better. They are joined on their quest by Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger), a spunky historian from the National Archives. She's in it to protect the document to begin with, but then gets swept away by the thrill of it all. Truth be told, so did I. National Treasure is a tad far-fetched, but it is a pleasure to watch. There's an old mystery lurking under the nation's early capitols, and we're invited along for the ride. We see Masonic symbols indicating hidden treasures and clues that have gone unnoticed for ages on our currency. One clue leads to another, and the intrigue builds. There's not a ton of character development here, but there's enough intrigue and action to satisfy. True to the spirit of the film, the DVD includes some clues to uncovering additional features. Don't worry, it's not too taxing, and you won't have to steal any documents from the archives to play. The second disc includes some extra featurettes and more deleted scenes. The featurette on codes and cyphers is very interesting, though it only scratches the surface. I doubt there's much fact involved in National Treasure, but it's a great deal of fun to watch. It's good for family viewing and could bring up some elements of national history you may wish to explore.
		reviewed by Eric Renshaw
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