DVD Review: Sahara

Some movies I never go out to see, mostly because I know in advance that there's a 98% probability it’ll suck, it’ll suck to high heaven. It’ll stink with Hollywood “crapality” and make me weep for the twelve dollar debit from my bank account.

I think Sahara falls into that 2% where I’m wrong. I just caught this flick on TMN (Canada’s version of HBO) and that was a sweet ride. It’s still Hollywood crap, but crap worth your time.

The story is, of course, simple. Two ex-Navy buddies turned treasure hunters are on the hunt for a lost Civil War-era ship that somehow ended up in West Africa. At the same time, a doctor imbued with hotness and camouflaged by eyeglasses is on a hunt of her own, a plague reaching the tipping point. The unlikely two meet through contacts and end up on the same boat. Dirk and Al are supposed to drop Eva and her teammate, but of course a businessman and a warlord can’t have the gorgeous doctor snooping around. Dirk and Al must save the day. In the end, everyone gets what they wanted. The end.

I told you it was simple enough. And it’s also crap. How many super-hot doctors with nerd-making glasses can there be out there saving the world? Right from the start I was wondering how long before we got the heaving bosom in a tank top and the bikini. Add a lot of explosions, near misses, jokes and buddy movie elements and you have a stale and tired Hollywood formula.

But—yes, here comes the but—it works, for me anyway. All the clichéd elements were there and I think that’s why I liked it, in a guilty pleasure kind of way—the two childhood friends who never let up on each other, the sidekick who knows he’s the sidekick, the girl who knows she’s the damsel in distress. But buddy flicks work when the fun is in. They never stop making cracks at everything and each other. And Penelope Cruz in a camisole—oh, how I loved that cami…

Matthew McConaughey and Steve Zahn work so well together, but on the flipside, Penelope just sticks out. She’s pretty, but she seems to be mere eye candy with a few scenes where she has something to do. There’s a lot of pot-shots at the US government and the president, with my favorite joke/quote from the movie being:

Dirk Pitt: What do you do if you're about to be exposed as the biggest polluter in modern history?

Al Giordino: I don't know, run for president?

The story is pure popcorn, but its fun anyway. Cool boat chase, camel rides, shoot-out, para-plane-sailing in the desert, truck bed luge-ing in the desert, cool desert locales, jumping on trains, and did I mention the camel rides? The running gags, like Al saying “Hi! How are ya?” when he’s about give some baddy the butt of his rifle. The pretty woman is gotten in the end, and there's one kick-ass rock soundtrack with classics like "Magic Carpet Ride" and "Sweet Home Alabama."

This certainly won’t be remembered in the same category of classics like Raiders of the Lost Ark, that’s even if it is remembered. But it’s well worth a watch.

I give it a 3 out of 5.

Article Author: David Desjardins

Dave works in the IT industry despite his better judgment. He’s an artist at heart with a critical mind. He enjoys photography more than he could ever express. Dave feels a need to tweak his brain with copious amounts of taurine to stay sharp while absorbing all kinds of media on any medium. …

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