National Treasure (2004) - 8 questions

Question: How are the chandelier and troughs of oils that light the treasure extinguished? If they are left to burn out, there would be no oil left to relight them.

Answer: You could do two things: let them burn out and refill them for the next people, or smother them and remove all the oxygen.

Question: When unknown helicopter is heading for INTREPID, in the very first few frames of the pan of New York City's skyline, there are two tall building to the left edge of the picture. Not being from NYC and knowing nothing about its real estate, it looks a little like the Twin Towers but that's impossible not only because they don't exist any more but also, those two buildings are in the wrong place. I am curious as to what those two buildings are.

Answer: These are the Time Warner Center buildings, most likely. Check out this web page for a similar misunderstanding on a larger scale: http://www.snopes.com/humor/mediagoofs/blackout.asp.

Question: I recently saw a photo of the Liberty Bell, and the Independence Hall tower is visible through a large picture window right behind the bell. Wouldn't Ben have been directly in Ian's sight when he (Ian) was facing the Liberty Bell? Wouldn't a man running across the roof next door have drawn his (and others') attention?

Answer: Not really. Ian was concentrating on the Bell, trying to figure out the riddle. He could easily have missed Ben (or assumed he was some kind of maintenance worker) under the circumstances.

Question: What are the torches in the tunnels under Trinity church made out of that they light instantly after how many tens or hundreds of years?

Answer: Oil soaked linens, like most torches in such environments, I would suppose.

Question: Which Ferrari model does Riley drive at the end of the film?

Answer: It is a Ferrari F50.

Question: In the scene where Ben has just pulled Abigail into the van after he had stolen the Declaration, why does he ask her if she is hungry?

Answer: It's meant to distract her and confuse her so that he can think and talk appropriately.

Question: Ben explains the code on the Declaration reading 'Here to the Wall' refers to the corner of Broadway and Wall St. But inside the church he reads 'Beneath Parkington Street' and assumes that must mean beneath the church. But why is there no explanation for what Parkington Street is and why wouldn't Ben think it's just another clue?

Answer: First, it's Heere, not Here. And he doesn't simply assume "Beneath Parkington Street" means beneath the church: Parkington Street is the name etched on the tomb hiding the entrance to the tunnels. When he saw it, he naturally deduced what he had to do.

Question: In the movie, the symbol of a pyramid with an eye in the top of it (found on American currency, if I understood correctly) is credited as belonging to the Free Masons, but doesn't it actually belong to the Illuminati? Or are the Free Masons and the Illuminati perhaps the same?

Answer: The are not the same but rumors and conspiracy theories have the Masons and the Illuminati intertwined for hundreds of years. That is why there are numerous symbols thought to belong to one or both.