NATIONAL TREASURE
Year: 2004
USA: Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
UK: Buena Vista International UK
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Harvey Keitel, Jon Voight, Diane Kruger, Sean Bean, Justin Bartha, Christopher Plummer, David Dayan Fisher, Stewart Finlay-McLennan, Oleg Taktarov, Stephen Pope, Annie Parisse, Mark Pellegrino, Armando Riesco, Erik King, Don McManus, Ron Canada, Hunter Gomez, Deborah Yates, Arabella Field, Sharon Wilkins, Alexandra Balahoutis, Yves Michel-Beneche, Jason Earles, Terrence Currier, Rod McLachlan, Elizabeth Greenberg, Jody Halse, Liam Noble, Joshua Biton, Thomas Q Morris, Antony Alda, John Travis
Director: Jon Turteltaub
Country: USA
USA & UK: 100 mins
USA Rated: PG for action violence and some scary images
UK Certificate: PG contains mild action violence and peril
USA Release Date: 19 November 2004
UK Release Date: 26 December 2004
Synopsis
"Here's to the men who did what was considered wrong, in order to do what they knew was right." - Ben Gates
NATIONAL TREASURE will thrill audiences this holiday season, combining a high-stakes crime caper with a quest for ancient treasure. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Jon Turteltaub have teamed up to bring a fresh adventure story which traverses from 2,000 year-old mysteries to a daring high-tech heist, as the action unfolds against the backdrop of America's most famous monuments and landmarks.
From the secrets of America's past comes this action-packed modern-day treasure hunt. Academy Award winner Nicolas Cage stars as Benjamin Franklin Gates, who has spent his whole life searching for a fortune few dare to believe exists. This is the legendary Knights Templar Treasure, rumoured to be the most awesome bounty in human history, and hidden somewhere in America. For six generations, the Gates family has chased after clues left behind by America's Founding Fathers and scoured the nation in search of the treasure.
Now the maverick Ben Gates has made a breakthrough. At last, he knows where the ultimate hint to the treasure's location lies: a hidden map on the back of the Declaration of Independence. As knowledge of the map spreads to a ruthless adversary (Sean Bean), Ben is faced with a terrible dilemma. Either Ben must be first to steal America's most sacred document - one guarded by the most sophisticated security in the world -- or let it fall into dangerous hands.
In a race against time, his rivals and the authorities, Gates teams together with his tech-whiz friend Riley (Justin Bartha) and the alluring, but unwitting, National Archives conservator Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger) to accomplish the unthinkable. Will they succeed in pulling off one of the most ambitious heists of all time? Will the Declaration of Independence lead Ben closer to the treasure? In one twisting, turning cliffhanger after another -- from the ventilation shafts of the National Archives to the catacombs beneath New York City - the answers are revealed as Ben Gates unlocks the mystery behind America's greatest NATIONAL TREASURE.