National Treasure: How Nicholas Cage Betrayed Sean Bean

When we last left off, Sean Bean had just finished watching his good friend, Nick Cage, make off with the Declaration of Independence. If you recall, earlier in the film, Nick Cage had refused to steal the Declaration with Bean, and even went as far as to say "Ian [Sean Bean's Character], I'm not going to let YOU steal the Declaration of Independence." (apparently, that means that he will let himself steal the Declaration)

If you can also recall, these two were great friends, or at least business partners. When the entire historical community had turned against Nicholas Cage and his family, Sean Bean was right there, financing Cage's cooky dream.

But when the moment came, and big action needed to be taken, what happened to Bean? He was betrayed, as often happens, by his own friend. It'd be fine if it all ended there. But for Cage to then create his own plan to steal the Declaration without Bean is a literal stab to the back. Poor Sean Bean. All he wanted was to share in the glory with Cage, and Cage had to go out of his way to betray Bean and steal the Declaration for himself. It's a shame.


Do you see that look on Bean's face? That's the look of a man who has been betrayed. It's a look of genuine hurt.


So, getting back on track. We continue with the movie. With the Declaration stolen, naturally, the FBI will be on the case. They have video evidence showing Nick Cage steal the Declaration. So why are we labeling Bean the villain here? At this point in the movie, Bean hasn't even done anything illegal. (well, maybe trying to kill Nicholas Cage, but, I would argue, he didn't want to kill Cage in the first place, and really, he was protecting himself from Nick Cage betraying him)

And Cage is even captured by the FBI, with the FBI guy telling him that he has two options: 1) Go to jail for a really long time, or 2) Give back the Declaration, and go to jail for a really long time. As the FBI guy so succinctly puts it, "someone's has to go to jail." It's at this point that Cage pulls his biggest betrayal every by putting the frame on Sean Bean.

You see, at the end of the movie, Sean Bean goes to jail. Why? NICK CAGE STOLE THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE! He should be the one going to jail, not Sean Bean! And what makes this even more tragic is the fact that Sean Bean - always the class act - breaks Nick Cage out of FBI custody.

And even after being broken out of custody by Bean, Cage is still pulling his little tricks throughout the movie. Bean, true to his word, breaks Cage out, meets him at the correct spot, and, as per the deal they made, gives Cage back all his little trinkets as long as he tells him everything he knows. Bean follows the deal right to the letter. But Cage is always looking for the upper hand and betrays Sean Bean some more, leaving out important details and seemingly forgetting that he made a promise to Bean to tell him everything he knew.

Bean does everything for his old friend, and without Bean and his help, Cage would never have gotten the treasure. But at the end, Cage frames Bean for a crime he never committed (stealing the declaration of independence), and doesn't even give Bean credit for helping him find the treasure. And yet, we - the audience - came out of that movie thinking Cage was the hero. All I see here is a devious Nick Cage, a man who betrayed the trust of his friend, used his friend for money, and then kept the treasure and the glory for himself while pinning a crime that he should have gone to jail for on an innocent man. It isn't right.


Look at Bean in this picture again. He looks like he's about to cry. And I don't blame him. His good friend betrayed him, stole the treasure for himself, and left him out to dry. Remember this face. You'll see it again in other movies, I guarantee that.

An Analysis of the Key Beginning Scene in National Treasure

So I've been going through the movie some more and watching and rewatching that opening scene, and I still can't figure out any way to see how the rest of the movie can shape Nicholas Cage as the hero of the movie. Let's re-examine the dialogue in this scene.



Fast forward to 7 minutes in and lets listen to them speak to each other. Here's what they say:

Bean: "We could borrow it."

Cage: "Steal it? I don't think so."

...

Bean: "Look Ben, I understand your bitterness, I really do. You spent your entire life searching for this treasure only to have the respected historical community treat you and your family with mockery and contempt. You should be able to rub this treasure in their arrogant faces and I want you to have the chance to do that."

[Bean then goes on to say how he'll make the arrangements and get them the document.]

Cage: "No..."

Bean: "I really need your help here." (remember, these two are partners!)

Cage: "I'm not going to let you steal the Declaration of Independence!"


So when you watch this scene again, does Bean really seem like the one doing the betraying? There's two things I see here. First, Bean wants to, not only get the treasure for his own good, but also for Cage's good. He wants Cage to be able to be redeemed for all the years he spent hunting for this treasure. Second, when Bean says, "I really need your help here," Cage responds with "I'm not going to let you steal the Declaration of Independence." I would be shocked if I were Bean. Two friends, working together to get the treasure, and now one of them says that he won't let the other get the treasure. So is Bean really the bad guy here? What do you think?

And don't forget, just moments later, Nicholas Cage concocts his own plan to STEAL THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE! Why didn't he just work with Bean in the first place!?

National Treasure: His Most Misunderstood

Lets go over the plot real quick to refresh your memory about this gem of a movie. Nicholas Cage (the hero) & Sean Bean (the villain) are working together to find this treasure. Sean Bean "betrays" Cage, goes out to steal the Declaration, and without the heroics of Cage, would've gotten away with it to. But was that really what happened in the movie?

Lets go through this movie step by step. In the beginning, we're introduced to these two treasure hunters; Nicholas Cage playing the academic, and Sean Bean playing the financier. Check out that equipment they have. You think broke-ass Nick Cage could pay for all that? Hell no. Sean Bean paid for everything. Now, at the beginning, these two seem like great friends. They're laughing it up, having a good time. So far, so good.

But then, we come to the turning point of the movie. Once Cage figures out that the next clue is on the back of the Declaration of Independence, Bean, being the resourceful man and good friend of Cage, decides that he'll set up the operation to steal the Declaration. Here is Nicholas Cage, who has spent his entire life trying to get this treasure, who is right on the cusp of getting the treasure together with his good friend, and what does he say. He says no, and essentially says, "not only am I not gonna steal the Declaration of Independence with you, I'm gonna snitch on you and make sure you can't get it either."

Ok, so we're that far. If you need a recap, visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ciUNC3U3I4, forward to 8 Minutes into the video, and watch Sean Bean get betrayed by his own friend.

Now, of course, Sean Bean is going to go get the Declaration of Independence on his own. After all, his good friend, Nick Cage, decided he wanted no part of it. But in perhaps the most bizzare twist in the movie, Nicholas Cage, after being so adamant against stealing the Declaration, decides that he's going to steal it before Bean can get his hands on it. Wait, what!? Why didn't Cage just work together with his friend like Sean Bean originally wanted. How does it make sense to steal something that you were against stealing in the first place? Essentially, Cage is just out to spite Bean.

And Cage steals the declaration thinking he's the good guy. His reasoning, essentially is similar to this: "In order to stop this bank from being robbed, I'm going to rob it first!" And take a look at Sean Bean's face when he walks in to see his once dear friend with the Declaration. You can see how confused he is to see him there, not confused because he thought Cage was dead, but confused at why Cage decided that he didn't want to steal the Declaration, then suddenly changed his mind and decided to steal it by himself.It's the look of being betrayed, the look of man who was far too trusting and not quite understanding what he did to deserve this. You'll see this look on his face many more times, not just in this movie, but in almost all his movies.

I'll continue some more later, but I've laid the foundation for how this movie pulled the biggest fast one on us we've ever seen and tricked us into believing Nick Cage was the hero, and Sean Bean was the villain, when in reality, Sean Bean was the one betrayed and played like a fool.

To Be Continued...

Sean Bean is Misunderstood

Now, I've been watching Sean Bean movies for a while now and like most of you, I thought the same thing when I first saw him...this guy plays the villain in every movie. I was first exposed to him more than a decade ago when I first saw Goldeneye. He was the typical Bond villain: vain, cocky, prone to making baffling mistakes (why not just shoot Bond in the head instead of rigging easily escapable timed explosions?).

But then I saw a movie that changed my worldview forever. National Treasure starring Nicholas Cage as the "hero" and Sean Bean as the "villain." I remember getting to the end of this movie, thinking over what just happened, and wondering to myself, "Why did Sean Bean go to jail?"

It was the typical Hollywood treatment of Bean. We've been duped so long into thinking of him as a villain that even when he's being betrayed and dumped on by his friends, we still see him as the villain, rather than the victim.

You're probably wondering what I mean by this? Surely, you say, he was the villain in National Treasure. After all, he tried to steal the Declaration of Independence, and the only person who could stop him was Nicholas Cage. Is that really what happened? If you watch that movie again, you might have second thoughts.

In this blog, I'm going to watch each of Sean Bean's movies and prove definitively that Sean Bean is too often being being given the label of the villain. But he is never just a villain. There is always something more to him, something that we - the audience - aren't paying attention to. At worst, he's a villain, but a misunderstood one. But more often than not, he's the one being betrayed by someone, and being unjustly portrayed as the one doing the betraying. Watch his movies, follow along, and maybe we can change how people view this honorable man...