The incredible success of Dan Brown's novel, The Da Vinci Code spawned innumerable copycats.  One of the most successful of these, released before The Da Vinci Code film, is the Nicolas Cage adventure caper, National Treasure.  Directed by John Turteltaub (Phenomenon), the film went on to gross over 170 million dollars at the box office and has spawned a very successful sequel that is currently still in theatres.  The original National Treasure has also recently been released to DVD in a 2-disc "collector's edition."

The film follows the story of Benjamin Franklin Gates (Cage) as he quests to find a massive treasure hidden by a group of Masons who were among the  founders of this country (and descendants of the Knights Templar).  As the story goes, the last of the founding fathers to hold one of the clues to the location of the treasure, Charles Carroll, passed the clue onto Gates's great great great great grandfather. From that generation to this, members of Gates's family, Benjamin included, have spent (or wasted, depending on how you look at it) years of their lives attempting to find the treasure. 

When Gates's turn to find the treasure arrives, he is severely hampered by the fact that his family is seen as a less than sane by the historical community.  Additionally, the man backing Gates's quest, Ian Howe (Sean Bean), quickly turns into a villain, striking out on his own.  Howe makes it clear that he will stop at nothing to get the treasure for himself and hampers Gates every step of the way for the rest of the movie.

Gates ventures from Washington, D.C., where he must steal the Declaration of Independence; to Philadelphia; to New York; solving riddles at every step along the way.  Following his trip to D.C., it's not just Howe on his tail anymore, but a sizable contingent of federal agents as well (stealing the Declaration of Independence quite understandably distresses the authorities).

The film is a cross between Mission:  Impossible and Peabody's Improbable History.  This history is at best inaccurate, the moments of science that appear ludicrous, and the big heist sequence like a low-tech version of something Ethan Hunt would have come up with 10 years ago.  However, the film never takes itself seriously enough for this to be much a bother.