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-Caveat Lector- Source: FilmJerk
Screenplay Review: ''National Treasure''
Written 06-24-2003 by Edward Havens
Screenplay draft dated April 9, 2003
Previous drafts by Jim Kouf, E. Max Frye and Jon TurteltaubA young boy, maybe ten years old, is driving a horse-drawn carriage through
the rain-soaked of Washington DC. It is 1832, and the boy is taking Charles
Carroll, 96 years of age and the last surviving signer of the Declaration of
Independence, to the White House, to see President Andrew Jackson about
a matter of urgency. Carroll dies before the President can make it outside,
but before the old man passes on, he tells the young boy, Thomas Gates,
about a great treasure. A grand treasure amassed throughout the ages.
From the pyramids of Egypt two thousand years before the birth of Christ,
through the Roman Empire and The Crusades, brought to the New World over
five hundred years ago. A treasure whose sole clue lies in one word:
Charlotte. [??] Thus begins what will become a family curse, as generation
after generation of Gates males search for Charlotte and the secret treasure.
The story above is told to a ten year old boy, Ben Gates, by his grandfather
John, one day during a visit to the rest home the old man lives in. Benâs father,
Patrick, has tried his best to stop the madness, but what is stronger than the
bond between grandfather and grandson when it comes to tales of high
adventure and treasure?
Ben grows up to be an adventurer himself. Naturally, Ben will go farther
than anyone else in his family ever had before. During an expedition financed
by a very rich, and thus not quite trustworthy, British gentleman who is also
seeking the same treasure, Ben discovers what Charlotte is. This, naturally,
leads to another clue and another mystery to be solved. At every step, one
clue solved becomes another needing deciphering. And so it goes, and so it
goes.
This is the basis for âNational Treasure,â the upcoming inevitable Disney/
Jerry Bruckheimer/Nicolas Cage blockbuster, currently scheduled to invade
motion picture houses in November of 2004. Predestined indeed, as the three
previous films from this trio, âThe Rock,â âCon Airâ and âGone In 60 Seconds,â
have a combined worldwide gross of nearly $750 million. When youâre dealing
with forces like that, who needs a script that makes sense? Itâs a wonder how
this script spent more than half a decade in development before finally earning
a green light.
About this treasure. You think the Ark of the Covenant was the ultimate
treasure? Or maybe the Holy Grail? Forget that. In âNational Treasure,â the
mother of all hunts revolves around this horde thatâs been building for four
thousand years. You name it, this bountyâs got it. Gold from the Temple of
Solomon? King Alaric II's ransom of the Athenians? The entire wealth of 5th
century Rome? The Sword of Alexander the Great? Check, check, check and
double check. About the only things missing from this loot are the Heart of
the Ocean diamond and anything Dr. Indiana Jones didnât already recover
himself.
In fact, the comparisons between the first in the much-beloved Spielberg/
Lucas series and this new film are plentiful and hard to ignore. Indiana Jones
had a doctorate in archaeology. Ben Gates has a Ph. D in history. Indiana
Jones had a female partner-cum-love interest in Marion Ravenwood, a
beautiful, intelligent, independent-minded twentysomething woman. Ben
Gates has a female partner-cum-love interest in Dr. Abigail Chase, a
beautiful, intelligent, independent-minded twentysomething woman. At a
perilous moment within an Egyptian crypt, a torch flickers out on Marion. At
a perilous moment within a frozen, semi-capsized ship, a torch flickers out on
Ben. Dr. Jonesâs main adversary was a rich Frenchman who wants the treasure
for himself, who leaves Jones trapped to die in a tomb with only one
conceivable way out, straight up, without a rope . Benâs main adversary is a
rich Englishman who wants the treasure for himself, who leaves Ben trapped
to die in an ice cave with only one conceivable way out, straight up, without
a rope. There are many more similarities that Iâll leave unsaid.
âRaiders of the Lost Arkâ is a hard act to live up to. Like the NFL and Bill
Walshâs West Coast offense, many have tried to emulate the Indiana Jones
playbook, most meeting with utter and complete failure. Perhaps setting the
adventures in the modern day, without the extended costs of creating a period
piece, is one way for âNational Treasureâ to escape the Indiana Jones curse.
At least, with Disney and Bruckheimer in control, it wonât suffer the same
budgetary limitations that plagued the likes of Cannonâs ham-fisted Allan
Quartermain series.
One small advantage âNational Treasureâ does have is that itâs major set-piece,
the breaking into the Rotunda in the National Archives to steal the Declaration
of Independence, which purportedly has a map to the treasure on the back in
invisible ink, is not the climax or the main focus of the film, but the transition
from the first to second act. If anything good can come from the making of this
movie, itâs that it could spark an interest in American history to a new generation
of people. With visits to Washington DC, the Ben Franklin Museum and the
Liberty Bell Pavilion in Philadelphia, plus the USS Intrepid and Trinity Church in
New York, âNational Treasureâ has just enough of one foot in the past to make
kids think history might be interesting. Of course, the film also condones
crimes of high treason, but hopefully those parts will go over the heads of
impressionable children.
If Bruckheimer, Cage and producer/director Jon Turteltaub (from whose idea
this film originates) are wise men, they would get rid of the dozen or so
references to defecation and where that kind of stuff comes from within the
script. Without Harry Potter or hobbits or cats in hats next fall or winter,
âNational Treasureâ could corner the family demographic if they so decided
to go the PG route.
Iâm going to give this screenplay a C grade, simply because it just has too
much of that deja-vu, been there and seen that feeling for my tastes, but
I can also see the film being quite entertaining, as long as you allow yourself
to enjoy the ride.
One final point of order, to prove my own obsession for detailâ could something
like âNational Treasureâ happen today? No, not today, the day I write this review.
The Declaration of Independence was removed from the Rotunda in the National
Archives Building in the summer of 2001 and remanded to a secret locationfor restoration, as the iron-based ink with which the document was written with waswww.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substanceânot soap-boxingâplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'âwith its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsâis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
causing single letters and, in extreme cases entire sentences, to slip around.
The Rotunda will not reopen to the public until mid-September 2003, so no, it
could not happen today, for you first wave of readers seeing this review in the
summer of 2003. But it could by the time the film finishes production at the end
of the year.Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at:
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