Movie Haiku - Sahara

www.saharamovie.com

Dir: Breck Eisner

Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Steve Zahn, Penelope Cruz, Lennie James

Ship in the desert
toxic waste in the water
Zahn loses hat twice

Sahara attempts to give audiences a modern day Indiana Jones style adventure, based on one of the Dirk Pitt novels from author Clive Cussler. The story begins with Pitt (McConaughey) rescuing doctor Eva (Cruz) from assorted heavies. She and her colleague are investigating a water-based infection and head to Mali in search of the source of the outbreak. Meanwhile Pitt and his friend Al (Zahn) are busy searching for a long lost battleship. When their boat comes under attack they soon realise that Eva is in danger, and so go off on a mission to rescue her. And of course as the film progresses we soon realise that the two plot strands are inevitably connected. This is undoubtedly a fun movie; after a slow opening it cracks along at a fair old pace with a real sense of gusto and enthusiasm. The globetrotting locations evoke shades of Bond, as does the excellent score by Clint Mansell, and the action is well handled - witness the boat chase in the first third of the movie which is one of the most gleeful action scenes I've seen in a very long time. The filmmakers have done an excellent job with their casting here too. McConaughey is perfect in the lead role, with Zahn the ideal comedy sidekick, and even Cruz - who I usually regard as a cold fish - adapts well to her character and gives a good performance. Add in a supporting role for the ever-reliable William H. Macy and you've got yourself an enjoyable film. Paramount could really have themselves a new franchise here.

soulmining rating: ***