Sahara ** (2005, Matthew McConaughey, Penélope Cruz, Steve Zahn, Lambert Wilson, William H Macy, Delroy Lindo, Rainn Wilson) – Classic Movie Review 3198

Propelled by two far-fetched plotlines (the warship, the plague), director Breck Eisner’s 2005 old-style high-adventure comedy action movie gets sillier by the minute. But the Moroccan-filmed scenery is breathtaking as filmed by cinematographer Seamus McGarvey and the daft action is non-stop all the way for a little more than two hours, providing value for money.

Looking fit and heroic but very grim as if he thinks he’s acting in the wrong movie, a surprisingly blond and tanned Matthew McConaughey plays rogue master explorer Dirk Pitt, searching in Africa for a long-lost US Civil War warship that holds a fabulous cargo of treasure.

Rather more fun are Steve Zahn as Dirk’s wisecracking sidekick Al Giordino and Penélope Cruz as Eva Rojas, a feisty UN World Health Organisation doctor hunting plague-spreading contaminated well-water, and William H Macy as the lads’ former US Navy boss, the Admiral, Jim Sandecker.

If you can overlook the dodgy overtones of having an evil local ruler, dispensable African extras and a stock French villain (Lambert Wilson), you’re in for a pretty good swashbuckling time. It’s the first of Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt novels to hit the screen, but it doesn’t seem special enough to spawn a series. The astonishing total of 17 credited producers includes both the star and author.

Also in the cast are Rainn Wilson, Glynn Turman, Patrick Malahide, Delroy Lindo, Lennie James, Robert Cavanah, Mark Aspinall and Jude Akuwudike.

It cost a huge $130million and took back only $68million in the US.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 3198

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