NATIONAL TREASURE 2004

 

HOME | BIOLOGY | FILMS | GEOGRAPHY | HISTORY | INDEX | INVESTORS | MUSIC | SOLAR BOATS | SPORT

 

 

National Treasure is a 2004 movie from Walt Disney Pictures and written by Jim Kouf, Cormac Wibberley and Marianne Wibberley, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, and directed by Jon Turteltaub. It stars Nicolas Cage, Diane Kruger, Justin Bartha, Sean Bean, Jon Voight, Harvey Keitel and Christopher Plummer. It is an adventure movie set in the USA about a search for lost treasure, involving stealing the Declaration of Independence, which leads to a trail intertwined with the Knights Templar, the Masons, and has many similar plot elements as The Da Vinci Code.

 

 

 

 

Tagline : The greatest adventure history has ever revealed.

 

According to Box Office Mojo.com, with a production budget of $100 million and release in 3,243 theaters, National Treasure went on to have an opening weekend domestic gross of $35,142,554. Overall, National Treasure earned a domestic total gross of $173,008,894 (with a worldwide gross of $347,451,894), [1]

 

 

Directed by:  Jon Turteltaub

Writing creditsJim Kouf (story) and Oren Aviv (story) 

 

 

Also Known As:
Sonomo (Philippines: English title) (review title)
MPAA: Rated PG for action violence and some scary images.
Runtime: 131 min
Country: USA
Language: English
Color: Color
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital / DTS / SDDS
Certification: Malaysia:U / Canada:PG (Ontario) / Iceland:L / Argentina:Atp / Australia:PG / Brazil:Livre / Chile:TE / Finland:K-11 / Germany:12 / Hong Kong:IIA / Ireland:PG / Norway:11 / Peru:PT / Philippines:G / Singapore:PG / Sweden:7 / Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) / Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) / Switzerland:12 (canton of Zurich) / UK:PG / USA:PG

 

 

 

Diane Kruger and Nicholas Cage as Ben Gates

 

 

Synopsis

 

 

Nicholas Cage plays Benjamin Franklin Gates, scion of the Gates family, who, following in the footsteps of his grandfather (Plummer), is protector of the key to a legendary ancient worldwide Knights Templar/Freemasons treasure hidden by Masons during the American Revolution. Hoping to find it, he ventures to the wrecked SS Charlotte, whereupon finding this riddle:

 

 

The legend writ,
the stain affected.
The key in Silence, undetected.
Fifty-five in iron pen,
Mr. Matlack can't offend.

 

 

He discovers that there might be a map to the treasure on the back of the Declaration of Independence. His partner, Ian Howe, suggests they steal it. Gates says no, and this triggers a race to get the Declaration and find the map. Ben and his sidekick, Riley Poole (Bartha), decide to steal the Declaration in order to keep it out of the hands of the sinister and traitorous Ian (Bean). Along the way, he obtains the assistance of his reluctant father (Voight) and an attractive National Archives archivist, Abigail Chase (Kruger). They are all tracked by FBI agents, led by Special Agent Sadusky (Keitel). The searchers ultimately discover that the Knights Templar thought that the treasure was too big for only one man and that it should thus be spread throughout the world. There is a strong implication that the Templars believed in democracy, and that one monarch should never hold all the power.

 

 

 

Harvey Keitel as the FBI

 

 

Inspiration and influences

 

The idea of a large treasure which uses the Declaration of Independence as a clue to its discovery is similar to the story of the Beale ciphers, which supposedly were buried in Bedford county, Virginia circa 1820. However, to decode part of that cipher, one simply had to know the text of the Declaration; one did not need the original document itself.

 

The film also draws upon several real-life pieces of history, including the use by revolutionary American forces of invisible inks to store hidden information in letters and other documents; dictionary codes as a form of cipher; and other intelligence tradecraft of the era.

 

The secret location of the treasure may have been inspired by stories of the mysterious "Money Pit" at Oak Island. The site is subject to various rumors surrounding the Knights Templar, the American Revolution, and pre-Columbian voyages to America.

 

 

Cast

 

Nicolas Cage

Ben Gates

Diane Kruger

Abigail Chase

Justin Bartha

Riley Poole

Sean Bean

Ian Howe

Jon Voight

Patrick Gates

Harvey Keitel

Sadusky

Christopher Plummer

John Adams Gates

David Dayan Fisher

Shaw

Stewart Finlay-McLennan

Powell

Oleg Taktarov

Shippen

Stephen A. Pope

Phil (as Stephen Pope)

Annie Parisse

Agent Dawes

Mark Pellegrino

Agent Johnson

Armando Riesco

Agent Hendricks

Erik King

Agent Colfax

 

 

 

List of all clues and their meaning

 

  • "The Secret Lies With Charlotte" - refers to a ship that somehow ended up in the Arctic Circle.

  • The Pipe "The legend writ, the stain affected. The key in Silence undetected. Fifty-five in iron pen, Mr. Matlack can't offend" - Written on the stem of a Meerschaum pipe, stem needed to be dipped in ink or similar substance, then rolled across paper to read clue. Refers to the Declaration of Independence.

  • Ottendorf cipher on back of Declaration of Independence - Cipher where the key is the Silence Dogood letters, this piece of information is withheld from Ian at the beginning of the movie.

  • Ottendorf cipher solution - "The vision to see the treasured past, comes as the timely shadow crosses in front of the house of Pass and Stow" - refers to Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell .

  • $100 Bill - supplies the specific time to be at Independence Hall to find the next clue.

  • Ocular Device - Found in fake brick with Freemason symbol when the shadow from Independence Hall points to a specific wall, Ocular Device needed to see the map in its entirety.

  • "Heere At The Wall" and the Trinity Church symbol - Found on the map when viewed through Ocular Device, refers to Trinity Church in New York City on the corners of Wall Street and Broadway.

  • "Beneath Parkington Lane" - Found on the map when viewed through Ocular Device and the lenses are ajusted. Refers to a 3rd degree master mason intombed in the Trinity Church Mausoleum, his tomb concealed the entrance to the Freemason temple where the treasure was hidden.

  • The Pipe - Final clue, the pipe was not only a clue to the Declaration of Independence, it was also the key to unlock the room where the treasure was hidden. Head of pipe needed to be placed inside the wall, to allow the stem of the pipe to turn it. Press the pipe head when turned, to unlock the treasure room.

 

 

Diane Kruger, Nicholas Cage and John Voight as Patrick Gates

 

 

Trivia

 

  • Before the movie was rated PG by the MPAA, it was under the Touchstone Pictures banner (which is part of Disney). When the film received a PG rating, it was then placed under the more family-oriented Walt Disney Pictures banner. 

  • The good guys in the movie use Google and the bad guys use Yahoo

  • In the backstory of the treasure, Christopher Plummer's character says "The Knight's Templar understood the treasure should never fall into the hands of the British". The bad guys of the film are all British.

 

Sequels

  • National Treasure 2 will be released in 2007-2008

 

Goofs

 

On the HP Laptops they are using, many are seen with Mac OS X installed which is impossible because:

  1. OS X only runs on Apple systems legally

  2. OSx86, the laptop-compatible version of OS X, wasn't even announced in 2004.

 

LINKS

 

 

A - Z FILMS INDEX

 

 

 

 

 

 

A - Z ACTORS INDEX

 

 

 

Anthony Hopkins

Arnold Shwazenneger

Arnold Vosloo

Brad Pitt

Brendan Fraser

Bruce Willis

Charlize Theron

Chris Cooper

Clint Eastwood

Daniel Craig

Demi Moore

Denzel Washington

Eric Bana

Eva Green

George Clooney

Gerard Depardieu

Goldie Hawn

Gregory Peck

Halle Berry

Harvey Keitel

Humphrey Bogart

Ian Holm

Ingrid Bergman

Jack Black

Jack Nicholson

James Cromwell

 

 

Jean Reno

Jeff Bridges

Jim Carrey

Joaquin Phoenix

John Hurt

John Travolta

John Wayne

Johnny Depp

Judi Dench

Julia Roberts

Julie Andrews

Kate Winslett

Keanu Reeves

Keira Knightley

Kevin Spacey

Kirsten Dunst

Kurt Russell

Leonardo di Caprio

Liam Neeson

Linda Kozlowski

Mads Mikkelsen

Marlon Brando

Mel Gibson

Michael Cain

Michael Douglas

Michael J Fox

 

 

Michael Keaton

Naomi Watts

Nicholas Cage

Nicole Kidman

Orlando Bloom

Paul Bettany

Paul Hogan

Pierce Brosnan

Rachel Weisz

Robert de Niro

Roger Moore

Russell Crowe

Sam Neil

Sandra Bullock

Sean Connery

Sigourney Weaver

Stanley Baker

Steve Martin

Steven Segal

Slyvester Stalone

Tobey Maguire

Tom Cruise

Tom Hanks

Tommy Lee Jones

Willem Dafoe

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

A taste for adventure capitalists

 

 

Solar Cola - a healthier alternative

 

 

 

 

This website is Copyright © 1999 & 2006  NJK.   The bird logo and name Solar Navigator and Solar Cola are trademarks. All rights reserved.  All other trademarks are hereby acknowledged.       Max Energy Limited is an educational charity.

AUTOMOTIVE  | BLUEBIRD  |  ELECTRIC CARS  |  ELECTRIC CYCLES  |  SOLAR CARS