SAHARA
Reviewed by Harvey S. Karten
Paramount Pictures
Grade: C+
Directed by: Breck Eisner
Written by: Thomas Dean Donnelly, Joshua Oppenheimer, John
C. Richards, James V. Hart, novel by Clive Cussler
Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Steve Zahn, Penelope Cruz,
Rainn Wilson, William H. Macy, Lambert Wilson, Lennie James,
Delroy Lindo, Glynn Turman
Screened at: Loews 34th St., NYC, 4/9/05
What sort of traveling do you like to do? Do you prefer the
security and guaranteed expenses that a group can give you?
Or do you prefer going it without a band of others, taking your
chances with language and reservations? The bold trio in
debut-movie director Breck Eisner's "Sahara" are clearly in the
latter category, and what's more they're not simply traveling to a
place like England or Spain where they can get along with
English and use the accompanying woman for Spanish.
They're in a place that, believe it not, has neither a Starbucks
nor a Mickey D's, nor for that matter a place with potable
drinking water. You wonder how they can cross parts of the
great Sahara Desert from the anarchic looking city of Lagos,
Nigeria into the Mali which is being governed military style by a
corrupt general. You wonder what they do for water, much less
food, or whether they're carrying enough money to bribe border
guards. The men are, first, novelist Clive Cussler's creation Dirk
Pitt (Matthew McConaughey); with him is the stereotypical
sidekick, the Sancho Panza who's there to make ironic quips, Al
Giordino (Steve Zahn), the latter carrying more hair on the top of
his head than McConaughey is carrying muscles in his well-
toned arms.
The four writers who have adapted Clive Cussler's book to the
screen don't care much for credibility and neither will the
audience. Some of the guys in the theater seats are there for
gorgeous Penelope Cruz while the gals will favor
McConaughey. Zahn, from that standpoint, looks like a fifth
wheel, his comic relief not really needed for a plot that's by
nature comically incredible. Action fans will go for the Indiana-
Jones shtick, with McConaughey and sidekick occasionally
meeting up with Cruz, making their escapes from thousands of
machine-gun bullets fired from choppers as they jump aboard
moving trains while galloping furiously on well-trained camels;
zipping across sand on a rudimentary airplane that looks as
though it flew before the Wright Brothers were born; racing on a
rich, retired admiral's (William H. Macy) yacht and on a
general's antique car.
As for the plot lines–which quickly become lost amid the
mayhem...Dr. Eva Rojas (Penelope Cruz) works for the UN's
World Health Organization seeking the cause of a pestilence
that's spreading across sub-Saharan Africa, from Nigeria to
Mali. She believes that the hapless Africans are victims of a
plague (torn from today's headlines about the Ebola scourge on
the continent) but later learns that the people are victims of
polluted water. Eva, Al and Dirk gain the enmity of General
Kazim (Lennie James), who controls Mali, working on a secret,
money-making mission with a rich French industrialist (Lambert
Wilson).
James Bond fans will relate to the huge industrial plant the
heroes discover in the middle of the desert, a solar-powered
operation in which scores of robotic people are manipulating
who-knows-what for the rich Frenchman. As for how Dirk and
Al got into the mess in the first place, that's the most
unbelievable (but who cares?) motive of all: they are searching
for an ironclad lost during the Civil War in Virginia that made its
way across continents. How so? Our heroes tell us (did I hear
right?) that 150 years ago, the desert was a waterway, the boat
and its alleged treasure in gold coins floating across continents
without the aid of choppers, camels, trains and cars that Al and
Dirk use freely.
The film is not bad and it's not good. It's not good because
there's nothing here that we haven't seen before, it's not bad
because the picture looks as though it cost tons of money. We
suspend disbelief and are drawn into the absurdities, though
Steve Zahn's quips are not especially funny, General Kazim
does not appear especially evil despite his vague idea to
prevent the world from learning about polluted water, and
Penelope Cruz has only one romantic scene with McConaughey
in imitation of a James Bond conclusion but without a single
spark.
Rated R. 123 minutes © 2005 by Harvey Karten
harveycritic@cs.com
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