The Town Herald

The netpaper about Elftowners, by Elftowners, for Elftowners.

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Sahara (2005)

Notable cast:
Matthew McConaughey
Steve Zahn
Penelope Cruz
Directed by Breck Eisner

Review written by [Insanelife], one of our prospective Heralder-to-be-s.



The story is based around Egypt and Africa during the late 90’s. The plot revolves around Dirk Pitt and his search for a famous Civil War ironclad ship in the deserts of West Africa. On the way, he teams up with a UN doctor only to discover that the entire world’s water supply is in jeopardy. The plot does thicken up a little later, but I won’t spoil it for those who haven’t seen the movie.

Formalities out of the way, this movie has an excellent cast including Matthew McConaughey and Penelope Cruz. But I did think that some of the acting wasn’t quite up to the level of other movies in the action/adventure genre, including the classic Indiana Jones franchise. At times, Cruz’s accent got a bit thick and I had to strain just to understand what she was saying. Even with the few minor annoyances I found, the movie was still enjoyable. My only complaint about the movie itself is that they left some of the best parts of the book out.

I did enjoy Steve Zahn’s character Al Giordino, who was the comic relief in the midst of all the action. Though there were no truly memorable lines, I did get a few good laughs in. That said, the writing wasn’t horrible, but it could have been much better. I think some of the lines they had intended to be funny just weren’t. Also, some of the dialogue between Matthew’s character and Penelope’s could have been vastly improved. There just wasn’t anything that showed that they were really beginning to like each other in the first half of the movie.

I found the story to be somewhat predictable in spots, but otherwise good. It’s an entertaining and sometimes interesting mix between action, adventure, and comedy. I was a bit disappointed in the ending though, because it was way too predictable. It just didn’t have an original ending. I’m not saying it was a bad movie, I just think that too many movies today go for a safer, more happy, 'guy gets girl and they live happy ever after' type endings. If they had gone for a more original or more interesting ending, I believe the movie would have been much better. But that’s just my opinion.

To sum it up, if you expecting Indiana Jones, don’t get your hopes up. But if you’re looking for an action packed adventure set in with some beautiful scenery, or just something to do on a Friday night, then go see this movie. I will recommend this movie with a note of caution, if you’re expecting something truly original and something truly great, then just wait and rent this movie when it comes to DVD.

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