As long as I am confessing less than elevated interests today, I might as well admit that I really enjoyed the new film National Treasure. This is probably the first Jerry Bruckheimer—produced movie I have ever praised, unless you count Team America, which is a parody of his extravagent explosion—filled action movies, acted by puppets.

Sure, it is a highly—implausible adventure film, but it has a number of redeeming values. It is first—rate storytelling, with nary a dull moment, and a mostly coherent narrative line. It is basically a treasure hunt, comparable in many ways to Raiders of the Lost Ark or King Solomon's Mines, two other very well—crafted screen adventures. John Turteltaub, the director, is quite impressive in the way he keeps advancing the narrative, and makes appealing characters out of what could have been stick figures.

Best of all, the film is all about America and its Founders. The treasure in question is the fabled horde of the Knights Templar (also the source of the Maltese Falcon, an American film masterpiece), which was somehow supposedly conveyed to those Founding Fathers who were Masons, who decided to hide it for future generations, given their worries about the British capturing it from them.

Utter nonsense, of course, although conoisseurs of conspiracy theory literature know that there are tales of more esoteric treasures having been hidden by the Founders, and an extensive literature about the role of Freemasons in the founding. Most viewers will not be familiar with the broader conspiracy theorist sources mined by the screenwriters, and it doesn't matter at all.

Jim Kouf, the first—credited writer, is the author of the very underrated science fiction film, The Hidden, one of my all time favorite alien invasion epics. He seems to have a way of slyly inserting layers of irony into conventional genres.

I don't want to go into any plot details, because it is a delight to watch them unfold. However, as is obvious from the film's trailer, a key clue is found on the back of the Declaration of Independence, which must therefore be stolen from the National Archives. Having many times made the pilgrimage to the Archives to view our sacred founding documents, I found the entire caper aspect of the movie very, very enjoyable.

Although larceny is certainly in the forefront, the film is completely respectful, even reverential, toward both the Declaration itself and the motives of its signers and the meaning of its text. There is some wonderful visual symbolism buried in the film, telling us that the Declaration is our defender and protector. There is a lot of location shooting at important naional historical sites, and they all look gorgeous. Pride is an emotion one feels at various times.

The critics almost uniformly deride National Treasure, with Yahoo.com's compilation of critical opinion rating it C. I have to wonder if the patriotic themes, combined with the name Bruckheimer, have more to do with this collective verdict than the actual quality of the film. Yahoo's viewer poll rates it an average of B. The large crowd at the suburban multiplex where I viewed it seemed to love it, and applauded at the end. The hard—to—please film afficianados voting on the IMDB.com site, gave it a 6.8 (out of 10) star rating, which is very high for that particular crowd.

The box office is delivering the most important verdict as far as the producer is concerned: National Treasure opened in first place Friday night. I am reasonably certain that word of mouth critics will make this movie quite a reasonable hit, foiling the smartypants artsy types who sneer at love of country.

National Treasure is escapist family entertainment of the first water. Have some fun and go see it with some kids.

Thomas Lifson   11 21 04