I have a confession to make.
I actually really like bang-bang shoot 'em up movies. A lot.
A vast majority of my film school cronies would gasp and clutch their elitists hearts to hear me say it, but I have nothing against mainstream Hollywood car chase and explosion films. They obviously fulfill a need somewhere, or they wouldn't do as well at the box office as they inevitably do. This is not to say that I believe that ever film that comes out of a major Hollywood studio needs to include a car chase and or major explosion, but I feel like the genre has its own rights and merits and should be judged on those qualifications.
And when you run into a really good one, like Sahara, then so much the better.
Somewhere along the line, Hollywood executives came to the decision that too much plot would just detract from the expensive car chases and flashy explosions. Leave intricate plot twists to the heist movies, they said, and let the explosions take over the action flicks.
How wrong they were! When paired with an intricate, well developed, and deftly executed plot, action movies are exponentially more exciting and satisfying. There are reasons for the car chases and motivations for the explosions. What a concept!
Speaking of concepts, the concept behind Sahara is ridiculous at best. According to Dirk, the main character played by Matthew McConaughey, a Civil War era ironsides ship mysteriously vanished near the end of the war, and is believed to have made an impossible journey across the sea and ended up somewhere in Africa.
Did you hear that? That was the sound of all the historians out there passing out from sheer lack of oxygen after laughing their heads off. Bear with me anyway.
Dirk and his best buddy Al are two ex-Navy Seals now working for a civilian marine search and recovery operation that — basically — searches for buried treasure. They love it, and they're good at it, and when Dirk gets a tip that his ghost ship may have ended up in Mali, they persuade their boss (William H. Macy) to let them do a little extra-curricular adventuring. (Note the logical explanation for all the crazy ass-kicking they do during the rest of the film — unlike a certain famous archeologist/professor who apparently just had a fetish for whips.)
Simultaneously, Eva Rojas (Penelope Cruz), a doctor with the W.H.O., is investigating the source of a terrible plague that seems to be originating in civil war-torn Mali. What's this? A PLOT? Inconceivable.
Article comments
1 - Triniman
I thought this was one of the worst films of the year. Glad you enjoyed it, though.
2 - Lacy
Heh, well, to each his own, I guess. The farfetchedness worked for me because even the characters thought it was serendipitous. And I really enjoyed the banter between Dirk and Al.
3 - Quack Corleone
Sahara: What a great bad movie! Thought I'd hate it. Ended up liking it quite a bit.
4 - Eric Berlin
This does sound like the kind of movie that can win you over with its sense of fun and adventure.
I'm surprised no one has brought up the original Sahara, which is just about my favorite movie that takes place during World War II. From what I can tell it has zero to do with this new Sahara but I really recommend everyone to check it out. Bogart and a band of allies making a last stand against a ragged bunch of Nazis in the desert as the water (and time) are running out for all concerned. Great, great stuff.