Sahara (2005)

Whenever filmmakers try to create a movie from a book, they face several interesting dilemmas. For example, they must decide which scenes from the book will make it into the movie and which won't; they must decide whether to give the characters the same personalities, appearance, and quirks or cut some things out; and they must decide whether to make the film understandable to everyone or mostly just to those that have read the book (in other words how much backstory to provide). Sometimes movies based on books do very well in the theater (like the Lord of the Rings trilogy) and sometimes movies based on books flop, despite the book having been a bestseller. This was the case with Sahara, which is based on a novel of the same name by Clive Cussler.

The film opens with a battle scene from 1865 during the U.S. Civil War. An ironclad ship named the Texas is under heavy fire and looks like it will be lost, but the captain sees something in the distance and orders his men to cease fire. He apparently had found an escape route.

From there, we cut to the present where a World Health Organization doctor named Eva Rojas (Penelope Cruz) and her partner are investigating what looks to be the breakout of a plague in an African city. However, before Rojas can find out anything, she is nearly killed at a lighthouse where she was checking out more victims. Rojas is saved by a man who just happened to be in the same area, but her medical bag containing the samples she had collected was stolen.

Rojas' rescuer turns out to be Dirk Pitt (Matthew McConaughey), an ex-Navy pilot who has turned into a treasure hunter, is working with his buddy Al (Steve Zahn) and their boss Jim Sandecker (William H. Macy) artifact up from the ocean floor. Prior to setting out for a black-tie banquet to unveil their latest finding, Dirk gets a phone call from one of his contacts. The man has found a gold coin that he thinks Dirk would be interested in.

The coin turns out to be part of a "sample" run that Confederate States president Jefferson Davis had minted around the time of the Civil War. The fact that the coin turned up in Africa gave credence to the a legend that has been running through treasure-hunting circles for a long time: that the Texas had crossed the ocean a century and a half ago and was now buried somewhere in the Sahara Desert (which, apparently, used to have a river running through it back then).

Dirk and Al get permission from Sandecker to take a 3-day leave in order to try to find the Texas. Rojas and her WHO partner want to catch a ride with them because they believe the source of the suspected plague will be found in the same area. The rest of the film then deals with their adventures in the desert as they encounter people who prefer that they don't reach their goals.

On paper, it seems that a movie like Sahara would be box office gold. It's a sweeping adventure story with a big budget and it takes place in exotic locations. It's based on a best-selling novel, so would likely already have a ready and willing fan base. It has elements of James Bond films (a couple of evil masterminds with a plan to cause mass destruction) and Indiana Jones (adventure-seekers with a sense of humor). Plus, even though there's a bit of romance involved, it doesn't get in the way of the plot. And yet Sahara fails as a complete work.

I had several problems with this movie. First of all, I thought the action sequences were far too long and weren't exciting enough. Frankly, I never cared enough about the characters to care if they got shot up or not. Second, I don't think the filmmakers spent enough time explaining how or why the Civil War ship could have made it to the middle of the Sahara. Yes, they said there used to be a river there, but that wasn't enough of an explanation for me. I was distracted every time the ship was brought up because I was wondering if the whole thing was plausible or not. And finally, I just do not think that Matthew McConaughey is a strong enough actor to carry a film of this scope as the leading man. As a viewer, I never accepted that he was action-adventure material, and had a hard time believing that he could pull off all those stunts.

I also think the studio went wrong by selecting Breck Eisner to direct the film. Sahara was Eisner's second movie overall (he had previously only directed for television) and was his first big-budget attempt. It seemed like he had trouble deciding just what kind of movie Sahara should be and it felt like the film never had an identity of its own. I know he didn't have much leeway since the movie was based on a book, but it seems like he didn't do anything to leave his own mark on the film.

Overall, I wasn't surprised to learn that Sahara bombed at the box office. Even after I made a conscious decision not to nitpick the movie but just try to enjoy it instead, I found that it simply wasn't fun or entertaining at all. If I were you, I'd stay away from this one!