Any movie with a $100 million budget can’t be called a “sleeper”, but the success of 2004’s National Treasure nonetheless crept up on a lot of people. The flick opened during the crowded holiday season and went on to take in a pretty solid $171 million. That didn’t make it one of the year’s true smashes, but it meant that Treasure was a reasonable success.

Treasure opens with a prologue set in Washington DC circa 1974. Young Benjamin Franklin Gates (Hunter Gomez) finds out about the “Knights Templar Treasure” from his grandfather, John Adams Gates (Christopher Plummer). This ancient wealth ended up under the protectorate of the Freemasons, a group that came to include many founding fathers. John tells Ben about clues that will reveal the location of the fortune. John’s great-great-grandfather learned part of the secret, and ever since, generations of Gates men have chased after it.

Until Ben’s father Patrick (Jon Voight), that is, as he believes this pursuit to be a fool’s errand that’s harmed the family. Young Ben clearly takes the legend to heart, however, and when we encounter him 30 years later as an adult (Nicolas Cage), he furthers the cause. This leads him to the Arctic Circle where he finds a ship called Charlotte, apparently a key to the location of the treasure.

Ben does so with the funding of Ian Howe (Sean Bean) and the partnership of a few others. A disappointed Ian thinks they’ll find the wealth in the ship, but that’s not the case. Instead they discover a clue that tells them there’s a map to the treasure on the back of the Declaration of Independence.

When Ian states that he can steal that document, Ben draws a line in the sand and refuses to go along with the theft. This creates a rift between the pair, and along with his accomplice Riley Poole (Justin Bartha), Ben tries to stop Ian from pilfering the Declaration.

Ben and Riley visit many governmental authorities, all of whom laugh them out of their offices. Because of that, Ben decides he’ll steal the Declaration before Ian gets there so he can protect it. Riley tries to talk him out of this seemingly impossible task, but Ben assures him that he knows what to do, and they set about their attempt at the robbery.

Inevitably, this leads to many complications. Some of these occur when Ian and his men end up at the National Archives at the same time as Ben and Riley, while others are caused by Ben’s semi-involvement with Archives expert Dr. Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger). She’s one of the folks to whom Ben pitched his plot, and she catches on to things after a gala at the Archives.

Eventually Ian’s gang pursues the pair, which means they have to stay one step ahead of the baddies. The rest of the movie follows their attempts to find the treasure, the pursuit conducted by Ian and his guys, and the involvement of law enforcement authorities.

Sometimes I think that if you’ve seen one Jerry Bruckheimer-produced action flick, you’ve seen them all. That’s not true, as Bruckheimer’s projects cover too many different subjects to be truly generic, but you usually know what you’ll get with him on the crew. That holds true for Treasure, a perfectly mediocre action movie.

The Bruckheimer brand comes with positives and negatives. On one hand, you know the film will look great and it’ll boast excellent production values. Bruckheimer doesn’t do his flicks on the cheap, and it shows. He invests in top talent both in front of and behind the camera, and that means his movies are invariably professional.

On the other hand, this leads to a definite sense of sameness. Bruckheimer flicks usually look the same, sound the same, and feel the same. You get the same kind of overly dramatic score along with broad performances and lowest-common-denominator humor and action. Bruckheimer clearly aims for the widest possible audience, and that lack of specialization means that there’s a common feel to most of his flicks.

Bruckheimer movies don’t worry a whole lot about plot consistency, and Treasure comes with more holes than usual. It also seems abnormally unsubtle, even for Bruckheimer. Early on the flick sets up the notion that the good guys - Ben, et al. - will use their brains to solve their problems, while the baddies - Ian and company - start with brawn first, second and third.

Really, Ian comes across like little more than a simple-minded brute; he occasionally displays a glimmer of intelligence, but mostly he acts in “Hulk smash” mode. That makes little sense that someone would go as far in life as this multi-millionaire based solely on crude tactics.

Inevitably, Treasure simplifies things, and it makes an apparently impossible task look awfully easy. Both Ben and Ian are able to break into the National Archives without a whole lot of difficulty. The movie sets up the complexity of the theft but doesn’t convey that terribly well. Really, the two competing parties act as the main challenge; the authorities who guard the Declaration don’t present a substantial obstacle, and that comes as a let-down after all the build-up brought to the concept.

The biggest problem with Treasure is that it never becomes anything more than a collection of the old tried and true elements. Granted, the ideas connected to the historical facets and the Declaration are pretty cool, and they give the movie a slightly distinctive flair at times, largely via its various settings.

Unfortunately, those pieces can’t overcome the movie’s generic feel. Does the Abigail character exist for any reason other than to create a love interest for Ben? Nope, and those aspects of the movie come across as rather bland. Cage and Kruger exhibit exceedingly little chemistry, so we don’t really buy their immediate connection.

At more than 130 minutes, Treasure also moves way too slowly. Better-developed action flicks can withstand such long running times, but with a plot as flimsy as Treasure’s, the length becomes a substantial problem. I suppose I could excuse the duration if the movie required it for exposition, but since the story gets out the requisite story elements early, that’s not the case. It simply plods along from one bland action set piece to another without much creativity or flair.

All of this adds up to a bland flick. National Treasure boasts an intriguing story and good production values, but it comes across as a cookie-cutter movie. It does little to stand out from the crowd.

National Treasure appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.35:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Though without significant flaws, Treasure presented a lackluster picture.

Sharpness was one of the main problems. The movie occasionally lacked great detail, especially in wider shots. While the film never became terribly ill-defined, it wasn’t as crisp and concise as I’d expect.

Still, most shots - particularly close-ups - looked acceptable to good. No issues with jagged edges or shimmering occurred, and edge enhancement seemed to be absent. No source flaws marred the presentation.

Treasure goes against modern action flick conventions in its firmly natural palette. The colors looked perfectly adequate but not much better. The tones presented decent clarity and accuracy, but I never thought they appeared vivid or distinctive.

Blacks were reasonably deep and firm, and most low-light shots seemed acceptably defined, though a few - like those inside the Charlotte - tended to be dense. Ultimately, there weren’t enough problems to knock my grade below a “C+“, but it was still a less than appealing image.

On the other hand, I felt pleased with the Uncompressed 5.1 soundtrack of National Treasure. Though the film didn’t include as many slam-bang set pieces as the usual action flick, it brought out some good sequences. When the track needed to expand during car chases, gun battles and the like, it used the full spectrum well.

Elements were properly placed and moved about the setting in a convincing way. The surrounds contributed a nice sense of space and involvement. Music depicted positive stereo imaging and the entire presentation offered a good feeling of environment.

Audio quality fared well. Speech was accurate and distinctive, without notable edginess or other issues. Music sounded full-blooded and rich, as the score was rendered nicely. Effects showed good range and definition. They demonstrated solid low-end and were impressive across the board. Ultimately, this was a positive track.

How did the Blu-ray compare to the CE DVD from 2007? Audio showed more breadth and pep, while visuals were more precise and dynamic. Even with the picture’s limitations, it still worked as an upgrade.

The Blu-ray mixes old and new components. Not found on the prior DVDs, we find an audio commentary with director Jon Turteltaub and actor Justin Bartha. Both sit together for this running, screen-specific look at cast and performances, sets and locations, action and stunts, visual effects, story/character/history elements and related areas.

Turteltaub and Bartha interact well to make this an enjoyable chat. They goof around at times, but they still provide a good level of information. The commentary moves well and becomes a satisfying affair.

Something interactive arrives via Mission History: The Declaration of Independence. This has you scan the Declaration; as you do so, a monotonous female voice reads the text and the film’s Riley character interjects comments about the material.

Once you scan the Declaration, you can access a “Playlist” with various materials. This branches into 21 areas, some of which go with text, but most of which show short video clips. In these, we hear from US National Archives Senior Curator Stacey Bredhoff, US National Archives supervisory conservator Catherine Nicholson, US National Archives chief conservator Mary Lynn Ritzenthaler, History Professors William Fowler, Joyce E. Chaplin, David Armitage and Robert Allison. The snippets cover the physical Declaration itself and its preservation as well as the history behind it.

I think the info in “Mission History” works well, as we learn quite a lot of useful material here. Unfortunately, the interface bites. Plain and simple, it’s a chore to get through all of the components; it’s silly that the disc forces you to “scan” the Declaration and slog through all of that just to watch the segments.

Even when you’re done, you can’t just click “view all” and go from there; you’re still stuck in an awkward interface that slows progress. Even then, it’s unclear if I gained access to everything; the disc throws in so many unnecessary distractions that it becomes tedious to deal with the whole thing. I do like the information on display, but the interface makes it much more difficult to reach than it should be.

Many video pieces follow, and we begin with an 11-minute and 20-second featurette entitled National Treasure On Location. We get notes from director Jon Turteltaub, producer Jerry Bruckheimer, second unit director George Marshall Ruge, production designer Norris Spencer, visual effects producer Kathy Chasen-Hay, visual effects compositors Phil Brennan and Claas Henke, senior visual effects supervisor Nathan McGuinness, director of photography Caleb Deschanel, and actors Justin Bartha, Nicolas Cage, Jon Voight, Harvey Keitel, Sean Bean, and Diane Kruger. They talk about the project’s path to the screen, realism and locations, the actors and characters, Turteltaub’s approach to directing, stunts, sets, and visual effects.

”Location” is better than the average promotional featurette but not by a tremendous amount. To its credit, it doesn’t just feel like an extended trailer, and it goes over a lot of decent subjects. However, it rushes through them so quickly that we don’t learn much. The visual effects get the most attention, though even that area remains only briefly discussed. It’s a passable featurette.

Seven Deleted Scenes appear next. These start with a 47-second introduction from Turteltaub in which he discusses the editing process. Then we get the clips themselves: “Thomas and the President” (1:45) , “Extended Shaft Sequence” (6:02), “Reviewing the Plan” (1:51), “Extended Scene: Ian Breaks Silence” (2:01), “Sadusky Takes Charge” (1:11), “An Unexpected Detour” (0:45), and “Lighting the Path” (1:41). Most seem pretty forgettable, though “Silence” has some good story points, and “Detour” is amusing. I would’ve liked to see the latter in the flick; it’s short and fun, so I can’t imagine it would’ve hurt the final product.

Note that most of the running times include introductions from Turteltaub, so the various scenes are each a good 30 seconds shorter than the lengths listed. Turteltaub also shows up for some optional commentary about the scenes. He adds some info about the scenes and why he cut them, though the intros tend to make the commentaries somewhat redundant.

Next comes an Opening Scene Animatic. This two-minute and 51-second segment starts with a short intro from Turteltaub as he tells us what an animatic is, and then we see the animatic. It shows a longer computer-created take on the movie’s opening, and it’s pretty fun to see. It includes optional commentary from Turteltaub who discusses the animatic’s purpose and comparisons with the final product.

After this we find an Alternate Ending. In this one-minute and 50-second segment, we get another Turteltaub introduction to tell us about problems with the scene. We then see this final shot at the National Archives. I understand why it got the boot, but it’s a fun segment. More Turteltaub commentary lets us know more about the clip’s problems, though he repeats some of what he says in the intro.

Next we get a featurette called Treasure Hunters Revealed. In this eight-minute and 36-second piece, we hear from Turteltaub, Mel Fisher Enterprises president/CEO Kim Fisher, author/treasure hunter WC Jameson, Mel Fisher Center president Taffi Fisher-Abt, Mel Fisher Enterprises co-founder Deo Fisher, Mel Fisher Enterprises executive vice-president Pat Clyne, Atocha Recovery Project operations manager Gary Randolph, Atocha Recovery Project captain Andy Matroci, West Coast Treasure Hunters president Betty Broughton, treasure hunter Bruce Gentner, and Atocha Recovery Project engineer Jeff Dickinson. We learn about real-life treasure hunters. They talk about their motivations and methods and we see hunts on land and on sea. We also get tips for aspiring treasure hunters. Despite a fairly glossy tone, “Revealed” offers a nice little look at the real-life exploits of these folks.

We can also find a trivia track. As usual, this runs text at the bottom of the screen as the movie plays. The track mostly covers historical information connected to the film and other related facts. We learn a little about the cast and crew as well as sets, locations and general production notes. The material pops up with acceptable frequency, though not as often as one might prefer. It remains a bit dry but it adds some decent insight into the subject matter.

A featurette called The Templar Knights runs for five minutes. It looks at the history of Masons and the Templar Knights. We mostly hear narration, but we also get comments from Knights Templar of California Grand Commander Dan McDaniel. Despite its brevity, it offers an interesting little overview with good insights like the reason why Friday the 13th is viewed as unlucky.

More featurettes follow. Ciphers, Codes and Codebreakers goes for 11 minutes, 49 seconds and includes information from historian of cryptology David Kahn, The Code Book author Simon Singh, and cryptanalyst Jim Gillogly. We learn about cryptology and its various forms throughout the years. This becomes a short but informative examination of various codes and their implementation.

Next comes the six-minute and 35-second Exploding Charlotte. It features Turteltaub, Bartha, Spencer, and period nautical dresser Courtney Anderson. The piece looks at the design, creation and destruction of the boat seen at the movie’s start. It provides a quick and enjoyable glimpse of that part of the production.

To Steal a National Treasure fills five minutes, 46 seconds with notes from Bruckheimer, Cage, Deschanel, Turteltaub, Kruger, Spencer, screenwriters Jim Kouf and Cormac and Marianne Wibberley, prop master Erik Nelson, and Archivist of the United States John Carlin. This one gives us a look at elements connected to the National Archives set, and it adds some more decent footage from the production as well as some insights related to the design of the heist.

Finally, On the Set of American History takes up six minutes, 16 seconds, and offers comments from Turteltaub, Voight, Bruckheimer, Cage, Ruge, Kruger, Deschanel, Bartha, Spencer and screenwriters Terry Rossio and Ted Elliott. “Set” looks at some of the historical locations used in the film. Like the other featurettes, this one lacks great substance, but it functions as a satisfactory overview.

The disc opens with ads for WALL-E and National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets. No trailer for National Treasure shows up here.

Despite strong production values and a distinctive plot, National Treasure presents an ordinary movie. It’s one of those films that diverts our attention mildly but it never threatens to truly engage us. The Blu-ray provides strong audio and some useful bonus materials; picture quality is acceptable but unexceptional. The Blu-ray offers the best version of a spotty film.

To rate this film visit the original review of NATIONAL TREASURE