|
Movie Review - Sahara (2005)
|
|
|
|
|
(What this rating means)
|
|
| |
|
| Director: |
Breck Eisner |
| Starring: |
Matthew McConaughey, Steve Zahn, Penélope Cruz, and William H. Macy |
| Rated: |
PG-13 (for action violence) |
| Length: |
127 minutes |
| Genre: |
Action/Adventure/Comedy |
| Tagline: |
Dirk Pitt. Adventure has a new name. |
| Studio: |
Paramount Pictures |
| Website: |
Sahara |
| Release: |
April 8, 2005 |
|
PLOT
|
When Dirk Pitt (an orange-tinted Matthew McConaughey) finds a very rare Confederate gold dollar,
he gets his Tom Cruise-sized partner, Al Giordino (Zahn), to help him search West Africa for the
"Ship of Death" - a long-lost Civil War battleship that supposedly contains a secret treasure and
that no one else really thinks exists. Along the way, they team up with Dr. Eva Rojas (Cruz) who
suspects the hidden treasure may be connected to a world-threatening danger.
During their search for the ship and its Goonie-esque treasure, Dirk and his pals discover that
a mysterious illness is being caused by an African dictator's nuclear waste disposal plant that is
polluting the water. A poor man's Indiana Jones ensues.
|
|
JOHNNY'S TAKE
|
It's not exactly a crowning achievement that one of the things that excited me most about Sahara is
that the bright glow from Matthew McConaughey's orange tan provided enough light for me to take notes. That
certainly doesn't say a lot about the movie's strongpoints, but it did prove to be very convenient.
Sahara has a lot going for it - humor, explosions, gunfire, lots of things that go boom, and a
couple of charming lead characters. Unfortunately, it's missing an immersive, gripping story to really
pull you in and hold your interest. There are times, particularly in the middle (aka Sahara Snoozefest
2005), where the action comes to a halt, and a lot of pointless characters say a lot of boring stuff in
order to attempt to flesh out a story that just isn't there.
Even Stephanie started to fall asleep, and she's a huge Matthew McConaughey fan!
Steph: It's true. Matthew, of course, looked great! But I would've enjoyed the
movie just as much had there been no sound.
The thing I liked most about Sahara is that it doesn't take itself too seriously, and it doesn't
expect the viewer to either. Take note that Steve Zahn is playing a former Navy SEAL and you'll know what
I'm talking about.
I can handle that, and I hope you can too because you're going to be hit with an onslaught of plot
contrivances that exist only for the sake of humor. For example, Dirk and Zahn are captured, and a truck
is transporting them. They manage to push the truck bed (which they're handcuffed to) out of the
back without the two soldiers in the truck noticing. They then walk around the desert carrying the truck
bed behind them. The soldiers wouldn't have heard the ENTIRE TRUCK BED FALLING OUT OF THE BACK???? Yeah.
Keep your "suspension of disbelief tool" handy and you'll be fine in that regard.
However, you have to feel sorry for the neglect that elements such as plot, storytelling, and logic must
suffer for the sake of the many obligatory shirtless scenes where McConaughey presses his arms against his
side in order to make his muscles look bigger than they actually are.
Steph: You're just jealous.
Why would I be jealous that his arms are smaller than mine? I will admit that it is a good source of
entertainment. You can't help but laugh as McConaughey thinks of new and exciting ways to "casually" flex
his arms. "Let me stretch my arm out and reach down to get something out of my boat while I
fleeeeeeeeeeeex."
The movie is well aware of what it's doing, and that's really its strong suit. Granted, that's not very
substantive, so take it for what it's worth.
The other thing that works really well in the movie is the relationship between McConaughey and Zahn.
They have good chemistry and are quite effective in convincing the viewer that they've known each other
since kindergarten.
But I'm afraid that's just not enough to carry an entire movie. Especially one that's OVER TWO HOURS LONG!
Sheesh. What were they thinking? I'd say an 80-minute runtime would've sufficed. It would have definitely
saved me the headache of trying to force myself to stay awake during Sahara Snoozefest 2005.
For an introductory movie to a proposed franchise, you've gotta come out of the gates making some noise.
You just can't accomplish your mission when people walk out of the theater comparing notes regarding which
point in the movie they fell asleep.
|
|
ODDS & ENDS
|
- Budget: $130 million
- Hugh Jackman was close to accepting the role of Dirk Pitt as early as 2001. Production delays and scheduling
conflicts eventually forced him to pull out.
- The movie is based on Clive Cussler's 1992 novel, but Cussler is not happy about the adaptation. In fact, he
is suing production company Crusader Entertainment (now known as Bristol Bay Productions) for around $10 million.
Says Cussler, "They butchered [Raising the Titanic] (another movie based on a Cussler novel), and of course
it was a bomb even though the book was good. It's the same thing with Sahara. I don't believe the script
they're using has much to do with the book."
- After seeing the movie, Johnny certainly understands Cussler's disappointment in the script.
- Zahn was cast when filmmakers realized his take on his character was completely in synch with their own.
They wanted the character to be comedic without being a huge goofball. Ardent fans, however, aren't as pleased
with the casting since the character is described as a "round, tough little Italian" who is fairly
muscular.
- Johnny's research shows that nobody in history has ever described Steve Zahn as a muscular little
Italian.
- Zahn is a history buff and has a huge collection of Civil War memorabilia. He claims to have brought
this knowledge base to his role.
- In an effort to build a believable on-screen relationship McConaughey and Zahn hung out a lot and would
make up stories about what Dirk and Al did in the past. Johnny has no idea if naked bongo drumming was
involved.
- McConaughey and Zahn had to undergo a month of Navy SEAL training.
- While filming in the desert, the cast and crew sometimes faced sandstorms that would limit their vision
to about 30 feet. The worse it ever got was a limited vision of about 3 to 4 feet.
- They sometimes had to brave temperatures of 120 degrees.
- Matthew McConaughey was in A Time to Kill with Charles S. Dutton who was in Mimic with Josh
Brolin who was in Hollow Man with Kevin Bacon.
|
|
MAMA'S APPROVAL
|
This is a surprisingly clean and family-safe movie. There is some mild profanity, but it's not bad at
all. Mama would have to work hard to find much to be offended by in this.
|
|
TRAILER COMPARISON
|
The trailer does a good job of letting us know that the movie isn't taking itself too seriously, but it's a little
misleading because I expected wall-to-wall action, and that's not what we get.
|
|
THE GIST
|
If you're just dying to see Sahara at the theater then go ahead and lower your expectations right now.
There is *some* fun to be had, but overall it just didn't do it for me. This can wait for a rental.
|
|
