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Sahara Our rating: Your rating: 1 2 3 4 Your Comments: see all MPAA rating: PG-13 (for action violence) Theater release: April 08, 2005 by Paramount Pictures Directed by: Breck Eisner Runtime: 2 hours 7 minutes Cast: Matthew McConaughey (Dirk Pitt), Steve Zahn (Al Giordino), Pen�lope Cruz (Eva Rojas), William H. Macy (Admiral Sandecker), Lambert Wilson (Massarde), Lennie James (General Kazim), Glynn Turman (Dr. Hopper), Delroy Lindo (Carl), Rainn Wilson (Rudi) Related: Talk About It/Family Corner

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The trailers and commercials for Sahara clearly express Paramount's hopes for an adventure film in the same thrilling and charming tradition of the Indiana Jones trilogy. Or if nothing else, the same league as the recent Mummy movies and late 2004's surprise smash National Treasure, which both appealed to audiences despite critical complaints. The ads even use a similar "Unravel the clues … make a discovery that will forever change history" campaign that clearly derive from Nicholas Cage's hit treasure hunt.

More importantly, Paramount and the filmmakers undoubtedly have high hopes of starting a successful film franchise. Sahara is the eleventh of eighteen pulp novels by best-selling author Clive Cussler, whose Dirk Pitt character has attracted a loyal following since first appearing in 1973. Pitt was created to be the ultimate Renaissance man—a combination of Indiana Jones's archaeological exploits (before Dr. Jones was ever dreamed up, of course), MacGyver's scientific improvisation (ditto), and James Bond's maverick action hero charm. Fans and astute film historians may recall a previous Pitt film adaptation, 1980's Raise the Titanic (starring Jason Robards and Richard Jordan), a box office failure that inadequately captured Cussler's story.

Matthew McConaughey as Dirk Pitt, an Indiana Jones wannabe

Sahara involves another lost ship even older than the Titanic. Dirk Pitt (Matthew McConaughey) is a key member of the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA), a privately funded archaeological salvage team headed by Admiral Sandecker (William H. Macy) that assists governments around the world in recovering their lost cultural treasures. At the film's start, NUMA's state-of-the-art ship is working off the coast of West Africa to recover lost treasure.

Before finishing and leaving for an assignment in Australia, Pitt acquires a lead for one of his dream projects—a gold coin minted by the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. Historical records tell of a Confederate ironclad battleship loaded with crates of the now priceless treasure, but it was never found, apparently lost at sea. Pitt believes the coin to be confirmation of legends that the ship traveled to Africa before meeting its fate. So with reluctant permission from Sandecker, Pitt takes a high-tech speedboat with his longtime friend Al Giordino (Steve Zahn) to discover the lost treasure.

Along the way, they assist Eva Rojas (Penélope Cruz), a beautiful doctor with the UN's World Health Organization on the trail of a mysterious plague that's beginning to spread through the area. She finds herself in peril when her work attracts the attention of French industrialist Massarde (Lambert Wilson) and Mali dictator General Kazim (Lennie James). Could those two be in cahoots and responsible for the spreading disease? Might their plans have more disastrous global ramifications if they're not stopped? And is there a chance that the lost Confederate ironclad might be uncovered in the process?

Penelope Cruz and Matthew McConaughey

Hey, Indiana Jones follows pretty incredible storylines too, but one of the biggest problems with Sahara is its lack of focus. It apparently wasn't enough to have a simple treasure hunt in Sahara—we also get a deadly disease, a potential ecological disaster, and political upheaval in Mali. It's probably a good thing that the film disposes of book subplots pertaining to Lincoln's assassination, a long lost female pilot (a la Amelia Earhart), and a gold mine run by slaves. The existing plotlines already crowd the film and barely tie together with the loosest of threads—not having read the book, perhaps the lost plot developments help explain everything better. While the search for the ironclad seems to be at the heart of the film, based on the ads and a prologue showing it escape from Union army cannon fire, it ultimately takes a backseat to the environmental plot.

Which leads our heroes to some serious plot contrivances. Pitt may be one of the world's leading treasure hunters in the books, but in the film, he and his companions are among the luckiest on the planet. They stumble onto all the major plot points—literally in some cases. During some recreational time in a village, a soccer ball gets away (far away), leading our heroes to a sort of map room. Some random explosions during an action sequence uncover another part of the mystery. Stranded in the Sahara? Never fear—you're sure to stumble on what you need to survive in the world's largest desert, spanning more than 3.5 million square miles.

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