National Treasure (2004) on Netflix
PG20042h 11mActionAdventureComedy
Benjamin Franklin Gates, a historian, joins an expedition to a ship in the Arctic, where engravings on a pipe point to the Declaration of Independence. Ian Howe wants the same document.
- Netflix3.8/5
- IMDb6.9/10381,628 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes46%
Trailer
Plot summary
Benjamin Franklin Gates grows up hearing his grandfather's account of a treasure hidden in America, passed from the Knights Templar to the Founding Fathers and the Freemasons. His father, Patrick, calls it nonsense. As an adult, Ben is a historian, cryptographer and treasure hunter, and he and his friend Riley Poole lead an expedition that Ian Howe finances to a ship called the Charlotte, found in the Arctic. Inside, they find a meerschaum pipe, and its engravings point to a map on the Declaration of Independence. Ian, a crime boss, proposes stealing the document; Ben refuses, and the group splits. The FBI and Dr. Abigail Chase of the National Archives do not believe Ben's warning about Ian. Ben decides to take the Declaration from the Archives before Ian does.
Cast
- Stephen A. Popeas Phil (as Stephen Pope)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about National Treasure (2004)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The Independence Hall scenes were partly shot at the replica of Independence Hall at Knott's Berry Farm, and the Arctic scenes were filmed in Utah, even though most of the film was shot on location.
- The film's premise of a map hidden on the back of the Declaration of Independence is fiction: the U.S. National Archives said in a 2019 video that the real document carries only the words "Original Declaration of Independence, dated 4th July 1776" along its back edge, used to identify it when rolled up and stored.
- Its opening weekend was the best for a Disney film released in November, a mark that stood until Chicken Little surpassed it in 2005.
