百年50部英文燒腦電影賞析:[28]National Treasure 國家寶藏

Benjamin Franklin Gates（Nicolas Cage）is a historian and amateur cryptologist, and the youngest descendant of a long line of treasure hunters. Though Ben's father, Patrick Henry Gates, tries to discourage Ben from following in the family line, as he had spent over 20 years looking for the national treasure, attracting ridicule on the family name, young Ben is encouraged onward by a clue, “The secret lies with Charlotte”，from his grandfather John Adams Gates in 1974, that could lead to the fabled national treasure hidden by the Founding Fathers of the United States and Freemasons during the American Revolutionary War that was entrusted to his family by Charles Carroll of Carrollton in 1832 before his death to find, and protect the family name. In the present, with an expedition funded and led by Ian Howe, Ben and his friend, a computer expert, Riley Poole（Justin Bartha）track down a Colonial ship that is trapped in Arctic ice, the Charlotte. Aboard the ship they discover a meerschaum pipe engraved with a Knights Templar riddle that Ben connects to an invisible map written by Timothy Matlack on the back of the Declaration of Independence. When Ian reveals he will go to any lengths to find this treasure including stealing the Declaration, Ben takes a stand against him. fight ensues, during which spilled gunpowder is ignited. Ian escapes the ship, leaving it to explode before departing with his team. Ben and Riley are trapped inside but survive the explosion by hiding in a smugglers hold, and return to the United States determined to stop Ian.
When Ben and Riley try to tell various authorities, including the FBI, and Dr. Abigail Chase（Diane Kruger）at the National Archives, they dismiss their claims, considering the Declaration impossible to steal. Ben and Riley concoct their own plan to steal the Declaration during a gala event, and execute it just before Ian and his own team arrive. Abigail, suspicious of Ben's presence at the gala, becomes caught up with Ben and Riley as they escape from Ian and the authorities. Ben's identity is tracked to the theft, and they are forced to go to his father's home, much to Patrick's surprise and dismay. Ben and Abigail find an Ottendorf cipher on the back of the Declaration which, using the riddle on the pipe from the Charlotte, they connect to the Silence Dogood letters, written by Benjamin Franklin, at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. Decoding the message, it points to where the Liberty Bell was, they then head to the top of Independence Hall at a specific time 2:22 where the trio find a pair of spectacles with multiple colored lenses invented by Franklin that reveal additional clues on the back of the Declaration, “Here at the Wall.” The group is caught by Ian, and even though they split up, Riley and Abigail and the Declaration are caught by Ian, while Agent Peter Sadusky captures Ben, still with the glasses.
Ian, under the guise of a prisoner exchange, lures the FBI into a trap aboard the USS Intrepid, allowing them to grab Ben. Holding Riley, Abigail, and Patrick hostage, Ian forces Ben to use the bifocals and find the next clue, which leads the group to Trinity Church in New York City. Beneath the church through a secret tunnel behind the coffin of Parkington Lane they find an enormous shaft with an elevator system. When walking down the stairs the shaft began to collapse a little but manage somehow. At the bottom of the shaft, they find a room lit only by a lantern, which Ben and Patrick trick Ian into thinking that it refers to Paul Revered Ride, and indicates the treasure to be at the Old North Church in Boston. Ian and his men strand Ben, Riley, Abigail, and Patrick as they ascend to the surface, unaware that Ben has purposely tricked them. Ben pushes a button of the unfinished pyramid the all-seeing eye on the wall and opens a secret door to an empty room. Patrick apologizes to Ben and admits himself that the treasure is real. Ben believes there's another way out to the surface and keeps searching then finds a strange keyhole and uses the pipe from the Charlotte to open yet another secret door to reveal the vast treasure trove, for which he has been searching his entire life, as well as a route to the surface.
When the four ascend back to the church, Ben calls in Agent Sadusky, who reveals he is part of the Freemasons. Ben and Sadusky arrange a deal: with the safe return of the Declaration and identifying where Ian and his men can be found, Sadusky will clear all of their names; the treasure will be distributed among museums throughout the world, and the Gates family will receive credit for the discovery. Ian is captured by the FBI at the old North Church and charged with kidnapping, attempted murder, and trespassing on government property.
The film ends showing that Ben chose to accept from the US government only a 1% finder's fee for himself and his team. That is still enough to make him and his friends quite wealthy, given that Ben's estimated value of the find is US $10,000,000,000. In addition, Ben has begun a romantic relationship with Abigail and bought a mansion they will be living in, and Riley bought himself a Ferrari.
本杰明·富蘭克林·蓋茨（尼古拉斯·凱奇飾）是一名歷史學家、業(yè)余密碼學家和尋寶家族最年輕的后裔。本的父親帕特里克·亨利·蓋茨試圖阻止本沿襲家族傳統(tǒng)尋寶，因為他本人曾花20年尋找國家寶藏，導致他們家族成為眾人的笑柄。然而年輕的本為了保護家族名譽并不放棄，他得知祖父約翰·亞當斯·蓋茨在1974年留下了尋寶線索，“秘密與夏洛特有關(guān)”能帶領(lǐng)他找到傳說中的國家寶藏。國家寶藏由美國開國元勛和共濟會在美國獨立戰(zhàn)爭時埋藏，1832年，來自卡羅敦的查爾斯·卡羅爾在死前將寶藏交給蓋茨家族托管。 現(xiàn)在，伊恩·豪出資并帶領(lǐng)著本和他的朋友電腦專家萊利·普爾（賈斯汀·巴薩飾）開始了探險旅程，他們找到一艘被困在北極冰河上的名叫夏洛特的殖民船。在船上，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)在一支海泡石煙斗上刻有圣殿騎士的謎語，本認為這個謎語和蒂莫西·梅拉克在《獨立宣言》后面畫的隱形地圖有關(guān)。這時伊恩透露說他會不惜一切代價找到寶藏并竊取《獨立宣言》，伊恩和本產(chǎn)生了分歧，在他們打斗的時候，不小心引燃了火藥，伊恩在火藥爆炸前甩下他們兩人逃走了。本和萊利被困，但他們躲在走私物品儲藏室得以幸存，出來后趕回美國試圖阻止伊恩的行動。
本和萊利找到聯(lián)邦調(diào)查局和國家檔案館的艾比加爾·查斯博士（黛安·克魯格飾）等官方機構(gòu)人員尋求幫助，但大家都認為《獨立宣言》不可能失竊，沒有人相信他們的話。于是本和萊利計劃在節(jié)日慶典時趕在伊恩一伙人之前偷到《獨立宣言》。在慶典上，艾比加爾發(fā)現(xiàn)本形跡可疑，在本和萊利擺脫了伊恩和警方追捕后將他們抓住，并把他們交還給本的父親，帕特里克得知兒子的所作所為后既吃驚又失望。本和艾比加爾在《獨立宣言》后面發(fā)現(xiàn)了奧騰多夫密碼，這與在夏洛特船上發(fā)現(xiàn)的海泡石煙斗上的謎語剛好吻合，這讓他們聯(lián)想到了在費城富蘭克林研究所存放的本杰明·富蘭克林寫的關(guān)于賽勒斯·杜古德的信，所有的信息放在一起，目標指向美國獨立鐘所在地。本、萊利和艾比加爾三人在2點22分同行前往獨立大廳的頂端，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)富蘭克林發(fā)明的多色鏡片的眼鏡，透過眼鏡看到了《獨立宣言》后面的另一條線索“寶藏在墻上”。這時伊恩一伙人追來，本三人分頭行動，萊利和艾比加爾帶著《獨立宣言》，本帶著眼鏡，但最終還是被伊恩和特工彼特·塞德斯基分別抓住。
伊恩假借交換囚犯的名義，騙聯(lián)邦調(diào)查局人員登上美國軍艦去追捕本。伊恩將萊利、艾比加爾和帕特里克抓為人質(zhì)，威脅本繼續(xù)用雙光眼鏡尋找下一條線索，于是本帶他們來到紐約的三一教堂，在教堂地下帕金頓·蘭的棺材后面找到一條秘密通道，穿過通道便看到一個帶有升降機的巨大的豎井。他們乘升降機慢慢下降，這時升降機發(fā)生了細微的顫動，但還能運行。豎井的底端是一個只用燈籠照明的房間，本和帕特里克騙伊恩說，這和騎士保羅有關(guān)，意味著寶藏在波士頓的舊北教堂，伊恩一伙人果然上當，拋下本、萊利、艾比加爾和帕特里克回到地面。本按下在一座未完工的金字塔上的按鈕，眼前的墻展開了一扇門，通往另一間空房，帕特里克向本道歉，稱確有寶藏存在。本認為肯定有通往地面的另一條通道，在繼續(xù)尋找中發(fā)現(xiàn)了一個奇怪的鎖眼，用在夏洛特船上找到的煙斗插進去打開了另一扇秘密的門，這就是寶藏埋藏的房間，這正是他畢生尋找的寶物，房間的另一側(cè)是通往地面的通道。

他們四人回到教堂地面后，本打電話給特工塞德斯基，原來塞德斯基是共濟會成員，之前他與本約定：只要本安全歸還《獨立宣言》，并且把伊恩一伙人找到，塞德斯基就會為他們澄清罪行，寶藏將會捐贈給世界各地的博物館，蓋茨家族將會榮獲尋寶的美譽。聯(lián)邦調(diào)查局人員在舊北教堂逮捕了伊恩，伊恩被指控綁架、謀殺未遂和擅闖政府領(lǐng)域的罪名。
影片的最后，本接受了美國政府給予他和他朋友的寶藏百分之一份額的獎賞，本估算寶藏總價值約一百億美元，因此這些獎賞足以讓他和他的朋友們生活富足。除此之外，本和艾比加爾相戀了，兩人共同買了一棟宅邸，而萊利則為自己買了一輛法拉利。