How seriously can you take a movie in which Penelope Cruz, wearing a bucket of eye make-up, plays a World Health Organization physician who investigates plagues?
Sahara (2005)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:168
Fresh:64
Rotten:104
Average Rating:5.1/10
Consensus: A mindless adventure flick with a preposterous plot.
Theatrical Release:Apr 8, 2005 Wide
Box Office: $68,642,452
Synopsis: Dirk (Matthew McConaughey) and Al (Steve Zahn) have been friends since kindergarten, having also gone through college and the Navy together. The two now work for a former admiral traveling around... Dirk (Matthew McConaughey) and Al (Steve Zahn) have been friends since kindergarten, having also gone through college and the Navy together. The two now work for a former admiral traveling around the world and salvaging treasures from the sea with the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA). In his spare time, Dirk is obsessed with the 150-year-old mystery of the Texas, an Ironclad battleship that reportedly disappeared from Richmond, Virginia during a Civil War battle and turned up in Africa. When a Confederate coin--allegedly one of only five minted--surfaces in Mali, Dirk and Al plan to travel there from Lagos, Nigeria on the admiral's yacht to investigate. Meanwhile, in Lagos, Dirk meets Eva (Penelope Cruz), a doctor for the World Health Organization (WHO) who believes that there is a plague building in Mali. Since the WHO is unable to find another way into the war-torn country, Dirk and Al give Eva and her colleague a lift up the river. Once in Mali, Dirk, Al, and Eva quickly find themselves embroiled in trouble as she pursues the source of the disease. Meanwhile, Dirk and Al search for the Texas. Based on a novel by Clive Cussler, SAHARA is a rollicking thrill ride through exotic locales, including everything from high-speed boat chases to helicopter pursuits to jeeps racing through the desert to camel rides. A warlord and a greedy French businessman prove to be formidable villains for the trio. McConaughey fits the bill as gentleman and adventurer Dirk, while Zahn holds his own as likeable sidekick Al. Cruz is feisty as independent Eva. Director Breck Eisner's theatrical feature film debut also features William H. Macy as the admiral. [More]
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Penélope Cruz, Steve Zahn, Delroy Lindo
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Penélope Cruz, Steve Zahn, Delroy Lindo, William H. Macy, Rainn Wilson
Director: Breck Eisner
Director: Breck Eisner
Screenwriter: Thomas Dean Donnelly, Delroy Oppenheimer, John C. Richards, James V. Hart
Producer: Howard L. Baldwin, Mace Neufeld, Stephanie Austin, Karen Baldwin
Composer: Clint Mansell
Studio: Paramount Pictures
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Reviews for Sahara
A couple of action scenes are a little less thrilling than promised, but McConaughey's cowboy strut can sell the snake oil he's peddling.
It's about good ol' boys on a rip-snorting adventure, and to that end, it succeeds.
Mightily agreeable foolishness ... one of the few cases where the phrase, "the book was better," actually doesn't apply.
Sahara is pretty to look at but lacks the adrenaline charge of the movies it's so obviously trying to emulate.
Not quite as fun as "National Treasure," but far better than Dennis Quaid’s doomed "Flight of the Phoenix."
The film is passably entertaining, in no small part because of Steve Zahn.
With a running time of a few minutes over two hours, Sahara sputters along as slowly as a trek across the desert.
It’s a pleasure to see a potential franchise develop from such an unlikely source.
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February 05, 2007:
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