First off, let us reassure you: “Sahara” is not a remake of the 1984 Brooke Shields movie. And yet, the scent of high cheese remains about this project.
This “Sahara” is, rather, an adaptation of a novel by Clive Cussler, the freakishly successful writer. Cussler’s hero, the aggressively and improbably named Dirk Pitt, figures in many of his books.
Dirk Pitt (played here by Matthew McConaughey) and his sidekick Al Giordino (Steve Zahn) are busily pulling up junk from the bottom of the ocean when they get a tip in Africa. Could a Civil War gunship with a hidden treasure have ventured up an African river and sunk there 140 years ago?
Faster than you can say “National Treasure,” Dirk and Al are assembling clues about the ship, commandeering their boss’s speedy research boat, and picking up a foxy Spanish doctor (Penelope Cruz) for the ride.
The search for the Civil War gunboat might provide a fun plot, but “Sahara” has to pump things up into a much bigger story about a giant energy plant in the desert, which allows for a wild and crazy climax.
The action scenes, which roll by on a regular basis, are all right. Director Breck Eisner, the son of longtime Disney head Michael Eisner, stages things as though he spent his life studying the Indiana Jones movies, which maybe he has.
I don’t know what Dirk Pitt is like in the books, although his name suggests he probably acts like someone named Dirk Pitt. In any case, in the movie he comes across like Matthew McConaughey – a good ol’ boy with a ready grin and a laid-back approach to life.
Penelope Cruz leaps about attractively, while Steve Zahn does his customary one-beat-behind-the-cue comic relief. Zahn isn’t as funny as he usually is – maybe it’s the strain of playing an actual adventure hero, or maybe his character is just jealous that Dirk Pitt has allowed a girl into the boys’ club.
The location shooting (mostly in Morocco) is cool. There are things in this movie that should appeal to adolescent viewers, such as a boat chase on the Niger River, an escape from a well and cave paintings containing clues.
Meanwhile, songs from the 1970s provide the punch for big moments, thus triggering one of my pet peeves about movies today. There’s quite of bit of cheese in the rest of the picture, but if you’re a Dirk Pitt fan, go for it. (OK, I just wanted to say “Dirk Pitt” one more time.)
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