National Treasure (Blu-ray)

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Every now and then a critic finds him or herself in total disagreement with almost everyone else who wields a poison pen. I know full well that most reviewers panned "National Treasure" as a) more tripe from Jerry Bruckheimer, b) a plot rip-off of "The Da Vinci Code," or c) an action film that just took way too many liberties with logic. Like, how in the world could anyone figure out all these wild and far-fetched clues that Freemasons from the late 1700s were apparently brilliant enough to come up with, assuming that genetics would produce even brainier people to decipher them years later?

Along with DVD Town's John J. Puccio, who wrote a positive review of the 2-disc version, I was one of the few critics who enjoyed "National Treasure." Seeing it again in 1080p High Definition hasn't changed my opinion one bit. I still think it's a fun mystery-adventure that has more in common with the serial silliness that "Raiders of the Lost Ark" invoked, a blast to a moviegoing past where cliffhangers existed just to give people like Pauline plenty of perils. Transplanted to contemporary times and using American treasures as stepping stones to a legendary Knights Templar treasure, the old-time serial format works well enough because the director and his cast strike just the right tone. Jon Turteltaub and his stars play it mostly straight but slightly tongue-in-cheek, and that perfectly suits a story about one man's search to find a treasure that's been part of family lore for generations.

Nicolas Cage plays Benjamin Franklin Gates a lot more understated than Harrison Ford did Indiana Jones, but it works. Gates has decided to prove a family story that he heard from his grandfather (Christopher Plummer), one which his own father, Patrick (Jon Voight) passed off as malarkey a long time ago. But after a prologue that relives the story Ben heard as a boy, we next see him on an expedition to find the first clue: Charlotte. In this case, it's a three-masted vessel that somehow ended up snowbound in the Arctic. Accompanying him is the requisite techno-geek sidekick that seems to be standard-issue for heroes these days, and Riley (Justin Bartha) is a likeable fellow to have along for the ride. But any fool can see that the sneeringly sinister Ian, who's bankrolling the expedition, has got double-cross on the brain. Since Ian is played by veteran bad guy Sean Bean ("Goldeneye," "Patrioit Games," "The Lord of the Rings"), you know it's only a matter of time.

And time here is the full 131 minutes, since Ian ends up racing Ben, Riley, Patrick, and an attractive documents specialist named Abigail (Diane Kruger) for the treasure in almost every sequence. As hokey as it gets, there's still something that gets the blood going when you see them go after the Declaration of Independence in order to find a clue that's printed on the back in invisible ink, or the Ben Franklin letters and glasses that they locate. For many viewers, this might be as close to the Library of Congress and Independence Hall that they get. While some have slammed this film for deriving its inspiration from Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, I think it's clever to combine a little U.S. history lesson with a slam-bang action thriller. Sure, it gets a little over-the-top (and over my head) when they start talking about Ottendorf ciphers and such, and some of the lines make you go "Huh?"--as when the bad guys leave Ben and Riley for goners in the Arctic wasteland and remark, after the ship explodes, "Let's get out of here before somebody sees the smoke." But more of this script from Cormac and Mariane Wibberley and Jim Kouf seems believable than not, and the dialogue does a fine job of helping flesh out the characters.

Harvey Keitel seems right on the money as the lead FBI agent who pursues Gates while full knowing that there's a deadlier third party he has to worry about, and Cage and Kruger seem well-matched. Some of the scenes (and sets) will absolutely remind you of the Indiana Jones sagas, while other scenes do smack of "The Da Vinci Code." But when you put it all together, "National Treasure" is an entertaining big-budget film. It's not the best Jerry Bruckheimer has ever bankrolled, but it's far from the worst.

Video:
In 1080p (AVC/MPEG-4 codec), "National Treasure" looks very good, though there are some scenes--particularly the snowy locations--where there's a little graininess and "noise." Colors have also been manipulated to set a mood, and I'm not sure that you could say that they seem all that natural in sequences like the treasure room. But that's a deliberate decision to go for stylized color, and moviegoers will find that this film looks pretty true to what was shown in theaters. Though some segments look a little soft, it's still the best this film has looked. "National Treasure" is presented in 2.35:1 aspect ratio.

Audio:
The audio is even better, with a rollicking English PCM 5.1 uncompressed (48kHz/24-bit) featured soundtrack that really fills your TV room with resonant bass and crisp clear treble, pushing the sound nicely across the space. There's great natural use of the rear effects speakers, and the sound effects never are at war with the dialogue. Balance is great. Additional soundtrack options are English, French, and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1, with subtitles in English SDH, French, and Spanish.