Esotropiart

This book-based movie is a stereotypical, fun American action movie. There was almost nothing realistic in the entire film, but sometimes that's a plus rather than a minus. I generally like Sahara with Matthew McConaughey, Steve Zahn and Pen?lope Cruz. Typically I don't like Matthew McConaughey's film presence. It seems that always plays some sort of major chauvinist pig who assumes he can and will get all the girls by virtue of his big smile and yuckus-ruckus big hair. I'm not saying his character is perfect in Sahara, but he at least shows some restraint, a characteristic seemingly impossible for him to muster in many of his other films. Matt, Hugh Grant, and Leonardo DiCaprio all have that big hair (well, not Leo so much), big ego presence on film that makes me squirm and spew. I can actually bear to watch McConaughey in this movie, though I still can't help myself saying, "Get a haircut!".

Sahara has virtually no connection with plausible reality other than it being an outlandish "historical fiction" of sorts. The two main characters, Dirk (McConaughey) and Al (Zahn) are marine treasure hunters, Dirk with an extensive knowledge of the field, as well as the science involved. Dirk's ultimate dream is to find a famous iron "Ship of Death" from Civil War times, and he will literally stop at nothing to find it. The two globetrotters end up in the Sahara desert, following a very unlikely lead.

Dirk and Al meet up with Eva, a World Health Organization doctor whose passion is to discover the nature of a mysterious disease in a war-stricken country. The three join up and smuggle themselves into Mali, each with their own dead set motivation. They encounter many characters, including an African warlord, rebels, and a wealthy french businessman gone foul. As they search for their respective mysteries, the three end up uncovering an enormous plot to do something that I can't remember, having something to do with an enormous solar powered incinerator and toxic waste. The point is, that it doesn't really matter what the evil plot is; you just have fun watching Dirk and Al scuttle their way through a series of ridiculous adventures, quipping back and forth all the way. The fondness of their longstanding friendship and the way they frolic against with even the strongest punches makes the movie an enjoyable, though mindless, spectacle.