Sahara (2005)

...was Hollywood seems to function Sahara must have been in production at the same time as National Treasure and possibly even picked up because of the similarities. Inside info always seeming to influence what a film company will green light for production.

The opening pre credit sequence sets the scene and is comparable to the opening of National Treasure. A flashback to a part of American history and a ship steaming through waters, ...
...on?

Sahara is a fun action adventure, as I said it is very reminiscent of National Treasure but is less frantic and fast paced, there is a lot of action but there is a least the bare bones of a good story to it as well and at least it does have some characterisation as well! Seeing as Sahara is based on a long running series of novels I guess this should come as no surprise though.
In fact for readers of the books the actual ... more

Adventure Has A New Destination

Sahara, a rip-roaring action adventure in the style of Indiana Jones and the more recent National Treasure, is based on the characters from Clive Cussler's best selling Dirk Pitt novels. In fact the legend "A Clive Cussler Dirk Pitt Adventure" appears in the opening credits. Dirk Pitt previously appeared in the dismal box office failure "Raise The Titanic" back in the 70's and hasn't been seen since, not surprising really as it was an awful film. In fact it was such an unmitigated disaster that producers and film companies were probably scared off doing another adaptation of a Cussler book, but in the synchronistic was Hollywood seems to function Sahara must have been in production at the same time as National Treasure and possibly even picked up because of the similarities. Inside info always seeming to influence what a film company will green light for production.

The opening pre credit sequence sets the scene and is comparable to the opening of National Treasure. A flashback to a part of American history and a ship steaming through waters, this time though it is a Confederate Ironclad (one of the first battleships).
The Ironclad, Texas, disappeared amid controversy and mystery, never to be seen again. Only rumours from sailors of a great iron beast crossing the Atlantic offering any clue as to what happened to the ship and its crew.

Modern day Africa, World Health Organisation (WHO) Doctors Eva Rojas & Frank Hopper are convinced that a plague is stating to spread, a vicious death dealing illness that is killing of whole villages. More and more villages are being affected and the two of them are convinced that the diseases progress shows that it started in Mali, Due to the unstable nature of the country and its ruler, General Kazim violent nature of dealing with outsiders (WHO having already lost people in the country) they are not allowed to enter the country to investigate.

Pitt and his NUMA (National Underwater Marine Agency) colleagues are also in Africa, bringing up an ancient African relic form the depths of the sea for the local government.
While there he hears from a contact of his, a 'dealer' in artefacts that he acquires from unknown 'sources', that there is something that Pitt should come and see. Pitt soon finds out that what he has in the one lost Confederate gold coin minted by the Confederacy. Only a small number where known to have been minted and only one is missing, the one held by the captain of the missing Ironclad!
Pitt has always wanted to find out what happened to the ship and this is his chance to confirm his theory that it did sail the Atlantic and reach Africa! Did the Ironclad have its final resting place in the once fertile deserts of Mali?

Bartering with his boss, Admiral Sandecker, Pitt and his best friend and colleague Al Giordino manage to finagle 48 hours to go and search for the Confederate ship. The condition is that they take the two WHO doctors with them into Mali. Once there the doctors will investigate the plague while Pitt searches for the ship.

After going there separate ways both groups soon find themselves drawn back together as they investigations lead them in the same direction, to something even more dangerous than they could have imagined!
How involved is the General in all this and what does the French businessman have to do with it all? In fact how can Pitt and Al survive once they uncover what is going on?

Sahara is a fun action adventure, as I said it is very reminiscent of National Treasure but is less frantic and fast paced, there is a lot of action but there is a least the bare bones of a good story to it as well and at least it does have some characterisation as well! Seeing as Sahara is based on a long running series of novels I guess this should come as no surprise though.
In fact for readers of the books the actual credit sequence at the start of the film is a treasure trove of memories. As the credits roll the camera pans across the office/room of Dirk Pitt, revealing, a room packed with bits and pieces. The wall covered with press cuttings based on previous adventures (documented in the books). You see a number of old car models in little nooks, Pitt's love of these ancient automobiles often turns up in the books. These mean nothing much to the average viewer but make to someone who has read the books it is a very nice touch, and this is coming from someone who hasn't read a great deal of the novels!

The first meeting of Pitt and Rojas is a stupendous piece of directing and editing. As Pitt charges up the beach to help out Rojas we flow into a fight scene that is one of, if not THE, most originally shot fight I have scene for years. The camera angles, the blurred viewpoint and even the sound are just superb. If this originality could have been used throughout the film then this would have been a five starrer! Originality is not easy to accomplish these days, especially in a fight scene but this fight is worth seeing.

The story is okay but not great, I have a feeling that there was a lot cut out form the book. If you are paying attention closely you can intuit that there is stuff missing. A lot of characterisation seems to be missing, especially with the bad guys. They are too much of an enigma, not enough detail in explaining anything about them at all. You don't really feel the threat they are supposed to offer to the heroes. I would think that it was there but possibly cut out for length purposes. The film is worth seeing if you like a good action packed ride, it certainly fulfils that criteria but doesn't really do much more than that. As the saying goes it is a switch of your brain, sit back and just go with it kind of film!

To me Matthew McConaughey is a perfect Dirk Pitt, he has the rugged good looks, the charm and you could believe he was a sea faring man. From my point of view he fitted my image of Pitt very well.
The same goes for Rudy and Sandecker. William H. Macy makes a good Sandecker, though I had an image of him being a larger man. Rudy seems a little young but Rain Wilson plays him well, he didn't seem wrong for the part.
Steve Zahn is the problem though. He is very good in this film; in fact he is better than that. I love Zahn's comedy style and he makes a lot of this film, but he doesn't even come close to fitting my image of Al. I guess I may have to read a book again to remind myself of his description but I always thought of Al being a man of big build. But hey this doesn't really matter cos if you haven't read the books Zahn is great!

Penelope Cruz though is, as usual, an enigma. She coasts through the film doing very little other than being the love interest and putting in a few explanations of medical terms. I felt that there were any number of actresses who could have made something of the part, something Cruz certainly didn't.

Director: Breck Eisner
Writer: Thomas Dean Donelly

Run time: 124 minutes
Certificate: 12A

Michael McConaughhey - Dirk Pitt
Steve Zahn - Al Giordino
Penelope Cruz - Eva Rojas
Lennie James - General Kazim
Lambert Wilson - Yves Massarde
William H Macy - Admiral Sandecker
Rainn Wilson - Al Giordino
Glynn Turman - Dr. Frank Hopper
Delroy Lindo - Carl
 

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