National Treasure Buena Vista Home Entertainment   Reviewed by Tony Buchsbaum	Intricacy is one of my favorite things. I grew up on it, in the tight, thrilling yarns of William Goldman and the films of Steven Spielberg (especially Raiders of the Lost Ark). I loved Katherine Neville's superb novel The Eight, as well as The DaVinci Code -- and even more, Angels & Demons. As blockbusters, one might be tempted to credit the latter two with like-minded historical/tech inspirations. While that might be true (it seems a bit early to tell), one recent film that was in development long before the Dan Brown juggernaut is National Treasure. Released last winter -- and recently on DVD -- National Treasure stars Nicolas Cage as Benjamin Franklin Gates, a sort of modern-day Indiana Jones, a man steeped in history, in the intricacies of puzzles and the wonder of ancient buried treasure. On the face of it, the parallels to Raiders are numerous. Gates has a sidekick, played by Justin Bartha; a reluctant girl, played by Diane Kruger; and a less-than-stellar reputation; it seems his family is known for hunting down treasures that don't exist. He also has an enemy, formerly a colleague and partner, played by Sean Bean. All of these elements converge when Gates finds the key to a long-lost treasure last seen, reportedly, by America's founding fathers and about which they left clues hidden in plain sight, on things like the Liberty Bell and the back of the one-dollar bill. Gates' own forefathers have been searching for the treasure for generations, and Gates has taken up their mission in the name of all that is sacred about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The trick is, he believes the treasure map is hidden on the back of the Declaration of Independence. Not an easy to document to get one's hands on. The solution? Well, just steal the thing. That's what bad guy Bean's character means to do -- which means Gates et al must steal it first, to keep it in the hands of the good guys. To say any more would spoil the fun -- and there's prodigious fun to be had, for fans of both rip-roaring derring-do and tightly-wound intricate plot points that need unraveling. Nicolas Cage is superb here. His quirkiness is turned down, while his action hero persona is turned way up. Essentially, this is Cage doing vintage Harrison Ford (who would have been perfect in this role 15 or 20 years ago). And why shouldn't he? It works beautifully. Diane Kruger is fine as Abigail Chase. Now, Chase is no Marion Ravenwood and Kruger is no Karen Allen -- but still, she does a fine enough job with what she's given. She plays a historian at the National Archives, where the Declaration is housed, and it's her job to keep an eye on it, a job she undertakes even after it's stolen to keep it from being stolen. Sean Bean plays Ian Howe, the villain who's just squirmed out from under a rock to cause lots of trouble. Bean has a way with characters like this. He did a great job in Goldeneye with the same sort of smarm. The cast also boasts a subtle, wink-wink performance by Harvey Keitel as a cop, another by Jon Voight as Gates' disillusioned father and a third by Christopher Plummer as Gates' grandfather. Three vastly different actors in three vastly different roles and, at points throughout the film, Nicolas Cage expertly plays foil to each of them. Director Jon Turtletaub keeps this complex film moving through an endless stream of clues found in Antarctica, Washington DC, Philadelphia and New York City. It all holds together surprisingly well, so much so that one is tempted to stare much more closely at any of the dollar bills in one's pocket, lest there be heretofore unseen clues. National Treasure is tons of fun, the kind of tale you know is all fiction but that a sizable part of you wants to be true -- 'cause wouldn't it be cool? The movie's biggest triumph is that it makes such a tale true -- not to mention endlessly cool -- for two hours, and that those two hours seem more like 20 minutes. | May 2005   Tony Buchsbaum is the author of Total Eclipse. He and his family live in Lawrenceville, NJ, and he is Creative Director/Copy for a pharmaceutical ad agency in Philadelphia.	Director Jon Turtletaub keeps this complex film moving through an endless stream of clues found in Antarctica, Washington DC, Philadelphia and New York City. It all holds together surprisingly well, so much so that one is tempted to stare much more closely at any of the dollar bills in one's pocket, lest there be heretofore unseen clues.