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Sahara review
2005.05.23 — Entertainment | Movies | Movie Reviews | by Andrew Cole
Hey, look; it's the ending of Temple of Doom. [official site] |
If you're older than, say, 15, there is little in Sahara that you haven't seen before. The inevitable comparisons to Indiana Jones are needlessly cruel, tho. Matthew McConaughey carves a niche for himself in the high adventure genre, but not alone. He has plenty of help from his co-stars and writers... and demolitions experts.
It is a time-tested formula invented in pulp magazines, perfected in dime novels, translated to movie serials, and then re-invented, perfected, and translated by Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Find it in all the Indiana Jones movies (but especially Last Crusade), The Mummy movies, the Lara Croft movies, and, most recently, National Treasure. Or rather, most recently until Sahara.
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Beautiful female doctor? Check.Nazis are purely optional nowdays. Most of these movies are financed by Germans.
- Comical cohort? Check.
- Angry superior? Check.
- Suave European villain? Check.
- Hordes of murderous henchmen? Check.
- Wily natives? Check.
- Unlikely treasure hunt? Check.
- Saving the world? Check.
- Globe-hopping travel? Check.
- Guns, cars, helicopters, ships, and trains, all of which explode? Double-check.
- Archeology that looks a lot like grave robbing? Check.
- Nazis? Che— Wait. No. No Nazis. Nazis are purely optional nowdays. Most of these movies are financed by Germans.
Dirk Pitt... is brought to the screen with flair and a flashing smile by McConaughey. |
Dirk Pitt is Clive Cussler's popular adventurer character from more than a dozen novels. Here he is brought to the screen with flair and a flashing smile by McConaughey. The plot involves Pitt's obsession with a lost Civil War ironclad that leads him to cross paths with Penelope Cruz as a WHO doctor.
Cruz provides a surprising diversion, since the warship is nearly forgotten for awhile so Pitt and partner Al (Steve Zahn) can rescue her. The plot skillfully leads us thru a maze of believable (but convenient) clues that complete the circle by making a villain of the guy we already don't like. The ship isn't totally forgotten, however, and Pitt cements his place in history by being the only marine archeologist to make a naval find in a desert and do it using high explosives.
McConaughey and Cruz are impossibly beautiful to look at and don't indulge in much silly romantic comedy banter. |
The acting is better than necessary, with Zahn providing the most color by far, but McConaughey offering some dry wit and Cruz some pathos. McConaughey and Cruz are impossibly beautiful to look at and don't indulge in much silly romantic comedy banter. For once, the female lead in an adventure film has something to do, and Cruz is good doing it. She's no Sarah Connor (hey, neither is Kate Brewster), but she doesn't stumble and break a heel every ten minutes either.
Brilliant character actor William H Macy is weirdly miscast as the guy whose job it is to yell at McConaughey over the telephone. Hey, somebody's got to do it, and R Lee Ermey was busy doing Mail Call.
McConaughey produced the film himself, with help from Cussler, some accountants, and a duffel bag full of Deutschlander euros.... |
The film is directed by Breck Eisner, whose only claim to fame is being the son of Michael Eisner, and is adapted from the novel by some nobodies. McConaughey produced the film himself, with help from Cussler, some accountants, and a duffel bag full of Deutschlander euros apparently provided by an explosives company.
The result belies the relative inexperience of the production company and comes off as a thrilling tale of danger and excitement, just not terribly new.
f e e d b a c k
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