SEA EXPLORER FROLICS IN THE DESERT

SAHARA
Directed by Breck Eisner; screenplay by Thomas Dean Donnelly, Joshua Oppenheimer, John C. Richards, and James V. Hart, based on Clive Cussler’s novel; cinematography by Seamus McGarvey; music by Clint Mansell; editing by Andrew MacRitchie; production design by Allan Cameron; art direction by Giles Masters and Tony Reading; set decoration by Anna Pinnock; costume design by Anna B. Sheppard
With: Matthew McConaughey, Penélope Cruz, Steve Zahn, William H. Macy, Lambert Wilson, Lennie James, Glynn Turman, Jude Akuwidike, Rainn Wilson, and Delroy Lindo. Rated PG-13 for action violence. Running time: 124 minutes



Reviewed by Joel Johnson

Breck Eisner’s Sahara would seem to have all the makings of being the beginning of a successful adventure franchise. It is based on one of Clive Cussler’s many novels about marine salvage expert and explorer Dirk Pitt, so there’s a treasure trove of stories to bring to the big screen. It has a talented and attractive cast, featuring Matthew McConaughey as Pitt, Steve Zahn as his trusty sidekick Al Giordino, and beautiful Penélope Cruz as eye candy and love interest. There’s strong supporting work done by William H. Macy as Pitt’s boss, by French actor Lambert Wilson as an ambitious industrialist, and by Lennie James as a ruthless African despot. It has exotic locations in the vast African desert (filmed in Morocco) and the requisite quota of gunplay and explosions. There’s a wild premise for the film, but aren’t they always wild? This adventure begins with a Confederate ironclad making it out of Richmond with a load of gold on board as Union forces unleash barrages to stop it. Pitt finds a rare gold Confederate coin—one of just five known to have been minted, including one that was given to the ironclad’s skipper—in Africa. This coin and old whispered tales of an iron ship called the “Ship of Death” having gone up the Niger river are all the impetus Pitt and his sidekick Al Giordino need to begin making their own investigation. Of course, there’s a more contemporary side to the story as Dr. Eve Rojas (Cruz) and Dr. Frank Hopper (Glynn Turman) of the World Health Organization find evidence of a deadly plague, the source of which is located in civil war-torn Mali. Mali, of course, is the upriver destination of our explorer heroes. Any guesses as to whether these two storylines intersect?

Being predictable is probably the major flaw of Sahara. This is a formulaic adventure film. The storylines collide about forty minutes in and from there on they become one. The film morphs from a salvage expedition for a lost Civil War ironclad and a medical investigation of a localized epidemic to become a mission to SAVE THE WORLD. Comic relief is liberally provided—primarily in the form of the ever-amusing Steve Zahn. The romance is under the surface as soon as McConaughey and Cruz meet but simmers for most of the movie. There’s not much that is really wrong with Sahara, just not a lot that is really right. Everything you will see in the film, you have probably seen done before and done better. Although to be fair, you’ve probably also seen it done worse.

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the film is the soundtrack. The film does very little to use music to augment its exotic settings. It includes too many “needle-drops”—snippets of popular songs—with about half definitely destined to work much better on the soundtrack CD than actually as part of the film. The music composed for the film features a repetitive brass motif that is instantly recognizable as derivative of the James Bond franchise that this film would like to emulate. The soundtrack is conventional and unoriginal.

One area where the film falls short of the Bond franchise is in its villains. The industrialist and the despot are bad, but their evil effects far outstrip their intentions. The industrialist has a grandiose plan, but it isn’t directed at personal world domination. It is the “unintended consequences” that are doing so much damage.

Sitting through Sahara is not painful. The stars are likeable, there’s plenty of action, and there’s a clear story to follow. As it is, this film is modestly entertaining and certainly won’t haunt you for days afterward because it is eminently forgettable. While the nature of this type of story is to be a vivid reimagining of history, I suspect this particular premise may even be among the more outlandish in the Clive Cussler canon. A somewhat more credible story may have helped this film establish a franchise. However, thoughts of Matthew McConaughey spending the next twenty years or so bringing Dirk Pitt’s exploits to the screen may be premature. The film has irked one of Dirk Pitt’s most ardent fans—author Clive Cussler. Cussler has begun legal proceedings because he feels that his contract that should have allowed him script approval was abrogated during the production. This does not augur well for future Pitt adventures hitting the screen, but considering this lackluster production, it may not be a great loss.  

 

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