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National Treasure (2004) DVD Review
National Treasure (2004) DVD Credits:
National Treasure (2004) Directed by:
Jon Turteltaub
National Treasure (2004) Written by:
Terry Rossio, Ted Elliot, Marianne Wibberley, Cormac Wibberley
National Treasure (2004) Cast:
Nicolas Cage, Sean Bean, Diane Kruger, Justin Bartha, Jon Voight, Christopher Plummer
National Treasure (2004) Released by:
Not available at this time
Region:
1
National Treasure (2004) DVD Release Date:
18th December 2007
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National Treasure (2004) Synopsis:

Academy Award winner Nicolas Cage stars as the brilliant Benjamin Franklin Gates, third generation treasure hunter. All his life, Gates has been searching for a treasure no one believed existed: amassed through the ages, moved across continents, to become the greatest treasure the world has ever known. Hidden by our Founding Fathers, they left clues to the Treasure's location right before our eyes... from our nation's birthplace, to the nation's capital, to clues buried within the symbols on the dollar bill. Gates' life-long journey leads him to the last place anyone thought to look: a map hidden on the back of the Declaration of Independence. But what he thought was the final clue is only the beginning. Gates realizes in order to protect the world's greatest treasure, he must now do the unthinkable: steal the most revered, best guarded document in American history before it falls into the wrong hands. In a race against time, Gates must elude the FBI, stay one step ahead of his ruthless adversary (Bean), decipher the remaining clues and unlock the 2000 year-old mystery behind our greatest national treasure.

National Treasure (2004) DVD Review:

Corresponding perfectly with the holiday season as well as the release of the sequel, a two-disc collector’s edition of National Treasure really shouldn’t be a surprise to consumers. It is now regular practice for studios to release a new version of a film on DVD, if only as an additional form of advertising for the sequel in theaters. I never felt the original National Treasures film was good enough for a sequel and this only shows my bias in an opinion about an unnecessary DVD for a mediocre film. I suppose the one thing that can be said about the film is that it is fun for the whole family, with a rare “PG” rating that doesn’t prevent the film from suspense and action, and by making this peace with the film I can approach the release of the DVD fairly.

One clue leads to another in this mystery/adventure film from producer Jerry Bruckheimer, and this is how National Treasure manages to remain interesting without the need for violence, sex or foul language, somewhat like an Indiana Jones without the whip or Ethan Hunt without the fancy equipment and impossible disguises. Instead Nicolas Cage is Benjamin Franklin Gates, a man dedicated to protecting valuable treasures passed down through the forefathers of the United States. The reason this treasure has remained hidden for so long is due to an intricate set of clues that only our super-intelligent hero can decipher with his knowledge of history. With the help of his father (Jon Voight) and the usual wise-cracking side-kick and female love interest, Ben Gates must protect the treasure from a greedy man that was once his partner. His only hope is to outsmart the bad guy, which is he does time after time as they move from clue to clue.

As with all of the Disney films with plentiful special features, there is an extremely helpful DVD map insert. I don’t know why more DVDs haven’t adopted this, whereas the chapter listing was inserted into many DVDs rather quickly. The map is extremely helpful in this DVD release as there is no shortage of special features on the two discs. The first disc is reserved for the film, as well as a unique way of uncovering special features fitting with the film these features are from. Fashioned as a treasure hunt each special feature provides the viewer with a clue that allows the next feature to be opened. This multi-level special feature may frustrate fans who aren’t interested in the games, but they are fairly easy to move past and are fit more as a theme for the DVD than a real challenge. The map in the DVD provides the answers for anyone unwilling to go through the whole process.

On the first disc along with the film is an alternate ending to the film, which was the original ending although it doesn’t make as large of a difference as you might believe. This along with the deleted scenes included on disc one are available with director Jon Turteltaub’s commentary. He also gives a commentary to the computer generated motion storyboard of the opening sequence. The other special features on disc one include four featurettes, but it is the featurettes and deleted scenes on the second disc that are all-new to this package. These include a featurette about codes, a location filming featurette and various other short features that allow audiences to see behind the filmmaker’s intentions, even showing the careful planning to make the scene in which the Declaration of Independence is stolen believable. Oddly there are no featurettes about the sequel among all of the new additions.


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National Treasure (2004) DVD review written by: Ryan Izay

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