Sahara (2005)
Directed by Breck Eisner
Seasoned adventurer and treasure hunter Dirk Pitt, a former Navy SEAL, sets out for the African desert with his wisecracking buddy Al in search of a confederate ironclad battleship rumored to have vanished long ago, the main draw being the treasure supposedly hidden within the lost vessel. When the daring duo come across Dr. Eva Rojas, a beautiful scientist who is juggling an escape from a warlord and a mission to stop the spread of a powerful plague, their desert expedition begins to heat up.
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11 films that influenced Sahara
What critics say influenced Sahara
Sahara is an Indiana Jones rip-off so dull that it gives me newfound respect for Cannon Films' 1985 version of King Solomon's Mines -- that infamous piece of cheese starring Richard Chamberlain as Allan Quatermain and a pre-stardom Sharon Stone as the damsel in constant distress.
It says a great deal about the lingering impact of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" that nearly a quarter century later it's still spawning substandard knockoffs like "National Treasure" and, now, "Sahara," that aren't much better than the old cliffhanger serials to which "Raiders" paid big-budget homage.
This one is no “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” but it’s definitely worth checking out before the onslaught of action-packed summer films dominate the box-office.
Sahara feels like it was cobbled together from discarded pieces of National Treasure and Raiders of the Lost Ark.
An attempt has been made to re-create the jaunty thrills of “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” but it doesn’t even come close.
Eisner, who is Disney honcho Michael Eisner's son, tries to instill in "Sahara" a "Raiders of the Lost Ark"-like insouciance, but light tones are tricky.
Sahara has a decent scientific reasoning behind itsstory but Cussler's books has been adapted into an action adventure film that looks less like the classic adventure film Raiders of the Lost Ark , as they had planned, and more like the tepid action vehicle Armageddon.
"Sahara" apes elements from "Lawrence of Arabia."
They also manage to tip the hat to a whole multiplex of movies, from Raiders to James Bond to Star Wars — there’s even a contrived, unnecessary train scene that seems to exist solely as a salute Lawrence of Arabia.
It's not the sort of movie you see in a theater (despite the Lawrence of Arabia-inspired sandscapes).
In fact, Sahara is most comparable to an even worse Golan-Globus Indiana Jones wannabe -- the completely lackluster Firewalker (1986) with Chuck Norris and Louis Gossett Jr.
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Sahara is based on a novel by popular author Clive Cussler, but to the untrained eye it plays like a wholesale rip-off of last year’s entertaining National Treasure, except with added complications and considerably less fun along the way.
It says a great deal about the lingering impact of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" that nearly a quarter century later it's still spawning substandard knockoffs like "National Treasure" and, now, "Sahara," that aren't much better than the old cliffhanger serials to which "Raiders" paid big-budget homage.
Sahara feels like it was cobbled together from discarded pieces of National Treasure and Raiders of the Lost Ark.
…outdistancing even National Treasure (which it rather resembles) on that score.
"Sahara" should appeal to fans of "National Treasure," last year's hit blend of ersatz archaeology and adventure.
"Sahara" is only slightly more satisfying than last year's "National Treasure" because it's full of pretty locations, the action bits are much flashier, and this new one, as I said, has Steve Zahn in it.
So, there they are one day, happily trolling on the Niger River in a speedboat borrowed from N.U.M.A.'s grumpy chief, Admiral Sandecker (a tongue-in-cheek William H. Macy in a part previously played by Jason Robards in 1980's "Raise the Titanic"), for tell-tale bumps on the bottom when their water sampling turns up a strange chemical that wouldn't likely be found in a river.
Dirk has a thing about long-lost ships; readers may recall that he was also the hero of " Raise the Titanic " (1980), a movie so expensive that its producer, Lord Lew Grade, observed, "It would have been cheaper to lower the ocean."
Emmet Walsh combo of Raise the Titanic, but something is still off with a chemistry that should come natural to these two.
Sahara is based on a silly Clive Cussler novel -- oh, admit it: you know you read Raise the Titanic in your shipwreck…
The movie is based on the popular novel by Clive Cussler ("Raise The Titanic").
(1980's "Raise the Titanic" and 2005's "Sahara") Perhaps Clive is one of those authors who are fiercely protective of their novels, and would hate to see them turned into a bunch of junky movies.
They look like they are having a good time playing make-believe in the desert with their toy guns and camels, but you never once believe they are in danger, etc. McConaughey, although buffed up to the max for the role, displays none of the effortlessness that Bruce Willis possessed when he went from being that guy on "Moonlighting" to an instant action hero in "Die Hard."
(A feeling which apparently extended to the cast: The awesomely spacey indie staple Steve Zahn, until now best known for his indelible pothead in Soderbergh's Out of Sight, came to town recently and went on at exhaustive length at how jazzed he was to be allowed to ride camels and shoot machine guns in a major motion picture.
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Sahara successfully captures the adventurism of the Indiana Jones films, King Solomon's Mines and Romancing The Stone.
Her pursuit of an Ebola-like plague adds a convenient humanitarian gloss to the boys' bloody frolics, and like Monica Bellucci as the sultry doctor without borders in Tears of the Sun, Cruz's bouncing cleavage swells with world-saving ambition.