National Treasure

N is for National Treasure (2004)

Archaeologist Benjamin Gates (Nicolas Cage) races to find the legendary Templar Treasure before a team of mercenaries, led by former friend and colleague Ian Howe (Sean Bean).

So I have seen National Treasure many times before, but as I don’t own a film beginning with the letter N that I had not seen before, and I rewatched the National Treasure movies the other day because they bring me joy, I thought it would do fine for this challenge.

National Treasure is just so much fun. It’s a heist movie (one of my favourite genres of movie) with history (one of my favourite subjects at school). Sure, the premise of hidden treasure and a secret, invisible map on the back of the Declaration of Independence is farfetched and kind of silly but who cares?! This premise makes a great film!

Ben along with his best friend and tech genius Riley (Justin Bartha) are the ones trying to stop Ian – their thinking is they must steal the Declaration of Independence in order to protect it. As their heist gets underway archivist Dr Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger) gets caught up in their plans and the three of them are forced to work together to figure out the clues and find the treasure before Ian does.

The main trio of characters are all great. They are all well-rounded, they each have their own skills and knowledge to contribute to finding the treasure, and they just fit together nicely. Riley isn’t related to comedy sidekick and Ben doesn’t always have all of the answers.

The action sequences are well shot and exciting, and the score, composed by Trevor Rabin, is great and the central motif just works so well. The mysteries and double crosses that are key to a heist and a treasure hunt are all there and the film goes by at a good pace so you are never bored.

National Treasure is just a fun adventure film that knows exactly what it is, and it does it incredibly well. It’s pure escapism for a couple of hours and I love it. 5/5.

S is for: Secondary Characters

I really like secondary characters, whether they’re in film, TV shows or books I’m probably going to be more interested in in the secondary character(s) or at least like them quicker than the main characters. I think it’s because the secondary characters sometimes say what we’re all thinking, or that they’re funny, or that because their secondary characters you don’t know that much about them so you can make up your own backstory for them.

So here are some of my favourite secondary characters:

Angela from the Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paoliniphoto 1
I love how mysterious Angela is, and while you do get some hints to what her background is in the final book, I love how you never know everything about her. I think if you did she’d lose something that makes her so special. Angela is a healer and witch and has the uncanny ability to turn up wherever significant events are happening.

Jonathan Carnahan from The Mummy and The Mummy Returns
(I feel as if I’m forever mentioning The Mummy and Jonathan Carnahan in these blog posts – oh well! Just shows home much I love him)
Jonathan is funny, loyal but slightly useless. He’d do anything to help his family but he’s also a bit of a scaredy-cat that being said when he needs to step up the plate he does so.

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